i 

f 






^ ^ % 

^ ^ : Mm- ^ imam- 

J * * s s ^ s , 






v * < • o , 'it. 





■it, 






^ o SIS V ^ <c 



ft* » 



^ - v 





1 SMfa"* %^ : 





THE BEGINNINGS 

OF 

THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT 

IN AMERICA 

AND THE ESTABLISHMENT THEREIN OF 

METHODISM 

/ 
/ 

By JOHN ATKINSON, D.D. 




NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON 
CINCINNATI : CRANSTON & CURTS 
1896 




Copyright, 1896, by 
JOHN ATKINSON 



Printing and Binding by 
HUNT & EATON 



? 



PREFACE 

The story related in this volume lias never before been 
told. The period commencing with the origin of the Wes- 
leyan Movement here, and closing with the Conference held 
in Philadelphia in the midsummer of 1773, was a momentous 
one. The events of that time were pregnant with destiny. 
The struggles and victories of the Wesleyan heroes and 
heroines of those seven years made possible all the achieve- 
ments and triumphs of Methodism on this continent that 
have followed. The labors and successes achieved in those 
years had their culmination in a General Conference in 
1773, which welded the scattered societies together into 
one system and established rules for their government. It 
exercised the functions of the Annual Conference also by re- 
ceiving returns from the various parts of the field and ad- 
mitting and appointing preachers. The founding, the estab- 
lishing of the American Methodist Connection was accom- 
plished not by the Christmas Conference of 1784, but by 
the Philadelphia Conference of 1773. The Christmas Confer- 
ence only marked a further stage in the development of a 
connection which owed its existence to the First Conference. 
The Conference of 1784 was convened for the purpose of 
providing for the ordination of the preachers and for the ad- 
ministration of the holy sacraments in a connection which 
had been governed for eleven years by the Annual Confer- 
ence, which was then and for years subsequent to the Christ- 
mas Conference a legislative body. The superintendency of 



iv 



PREFACE 



the Kev. John Wesley was formally accepted by the First 
Conference, and it was as formally continued and proclaimed 
by the Christmas Conference. 

This volume, therefore, is a history of the origin and prog- 
ress of the Wesley an Movement in America down to the 
formal founding of the Methodist connection therein. It is a 
history of the building of the foundations upon which Meth- 
odism so firmly stands, and probably will continue to stand in 
America until the earth and the heavens pass away. 

The material of my narrative was derived chiefly from 
original sources. I am under great obligation to several 
persons for kind assistance and words of encouragement. 
To Miss Katherine Crooks, daughter of the Rev. Dr. George 
R. Crooks, and granddaughter to Bishop Emory, I am deeply 
indebted for her very competent assistance in examining a 
mass of important manuscript documents. I am also under 
much obligation to Professor Lincoln R. Gibbs, of Boston 
University, for valuable suggestions, and for kind oflices I 
owe many thanks to the Rev. Mr. Wiggins and Mr. McCul- 
lough, of Philadelphia. The Rev. Dr. H. A. Buttz, presi- 
dent of Drew Theological Seminary ; the Rev. Dr. and Pro- 
fessor S. F. Upham, of the same seminary ; Bishop John F. 
Hurst, of Washington, D. C. ; the Rev. Dr. D. S. Stephens, 
editor of the Methodist Recorder ; the Rev. Dr. A. H. Tuttle, 
of Newark, N. J.; the Rev. S. G. Avars, librarian of Drew 
Seminary, and the Rev. Dr. Abel Stevens, the justly re- 
nowned historian of Methodism, have all cheered me in my 
labors by encouraging words, for which I am profoundly 
thankful. 

I also find a special pleasure in acknowledging my par- 
ticular obligations to Mrs. Lydia A. Clark, of J ersey City, 
an elect lady, who, by her beautiful character and saintly 
life, has for nearly threescore years been an ornament to 



PEEFACE 



V 



Methodism. For these many years Mrs. Clark has been to 
me and mine a most kind and generous friend, and for the 
encouragement and support she has given me in my work I 
shall never cease to feel deeply grateful. 

Two facts constrained me to publish what I have herein 
written: First — An evangelical body which has attained to 
such vast magnitude already as has the Methodist, with prom- 
ise of a still greater development, ought to be in possession of 
all the important facts relating to its origin and establish- 
ment in this land. Second — I believed that in all probability 
no person would ever attempt the difficult labor of research 
which I had performed, without which the work could not 
be written. Most of the facts in this volume the public does 
not now possess, as will clearly appear from the following as- 
sertions : (1) " The History of American Methodism," by the 
Rev. Jesse Lee, which is very valuable, covers the above- 
mentioned period in barely twenty-six pages. (2) " The His- 
tory of the Methodist Episcopal Church," by the Rev. Nathan 
Bangs, D.D., also a valuable work, devotes to the same period 
almost thirty-nine pages. (3) In the eloquent and important 
" History of the Methodist Episcopal Church," by the Rev. 
Abel Stevens, LL.D., one hundred and twenty-eight pages 
are allotted to this period. It is needless to say that in the 
number of duodecimo pages devoted to this great period of 
origin, growth, and establishment by any or by all of these 
historians, it would be in vain to look for a relation in even 
the baldest and most condensed manner of the events which 
are essential to an adequate comprehension of the period in 
question. 

The long labor involved in the production of this volume 
perhaps had better not be mentioned. It, however, is proper 
to say that the work has not been hurriedly composed, but 
sufficient time has been given to it to justify the hope that it 



vi 



PREFACE 



will be found to be accurate as to its facts and assertions. 
The labor of research and collation has been prosecuted 
with such thoroughness and care as to warrant the hope 
that the narrative will be found to be adequate as to its 
matter. The writing, rewriting, revising, and carrying- 
through the press the work I now venture to send forth have 
occupied more than half a decade in connection with my pas- 
toral labors. But for the fact that I enjoyed a delightful 
pastorate of five years in West Side Avenue Methodist 
Episcopal Church in Jersey City, N. J., with a very kind, 
affectionate, and indulgent people, where the exactions of 
ministerial labor were not severe, it may be doubted whether 
my task would have been accomplished. Amid the heats of 
summer and the frosts of winter ; in the bright spring-time 
and in sombre autumn, my toil upon these pages has gone 
on, sometimes for a few minutes or hours at a time, some- 
times for days and even weeks, almost consecutively, inspired 
by the hope that I might accomplish for the Church and the 
country that which I knew to be a very important task and one 
which I believed would probably not be done by another pen. 
However imperfectly my work has been done, the profound 
significance and often thrilling interest of the facts herein set 
forth, cannot, I am sure, fail to engage the attention of those 
who read with a desire to ascertain how was planted and 
rooted in this great continent that now vast, majestic, and 
glorious tree whose leaves of healing are fluttering in the 
breezes of every sky and falling upon all the nations. 

John Atkinson. 

Haverstraw-on-the-Hudson, New York, 
December 28, 1895. 



CONTENTS. 



FIRST PEEIOD. 

From the Beginning of the Wesleyan Movement in 
America to the Appointment of Mr. Wesley's First 
Missionaries. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Time and Place of the Origin op the Wesleyan Move- 
ment in America, 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Testimonies from Primitive Sources concerning the Begin- 
ning of the Wesleyan Movement in America, ... 34 

CHAPTER III. 

The Historic German-Irish Emigration, 47 

CHAPTER IV. 

Barbara Heck, and how she Began the Wesleyan Movement 
in America, 49 

CHAPTER V. 

The New York Heroine's Identity, Character, and Death, 59 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Labors of Embury and Webb with the Society in New 
York prior to 1770, and the Erection of John Street 
Preaching-house, 77 

CHAPTER VII. 

From the Opening of Wesley's Chapel in New York to the 
Appointment of Pilmoor and Boardman, . . . .90 



Vlll 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER VIII. page 
The Arrival of Robert Williams and his Ministry in Am- 
erica in 1769, : 102 



SECOND PEEIOD. 

From the Appointment of Wesley's First Missionakies 
to America to the Close oe the First American Con- 
ference. 

chapter i. 

The Appointment and Arrival of Boardman and Pilmoor, . 107 

CHAPTER II. 

Boardman and Pilmoor at Work in America, . . . .134 

CHAPTER III. 

Ministry of Pilmoor, Webb, and Williams in Philadelphia 
in the Fall of 1769 — Purchase of St. George's, . . 147 

CHAPTER IV. 

Pilmoor' s First Term in St. George's, Philadelphia; as- 
sisted by Webb and Strawbridge, ... . 157 

CHAPTER V. 

Boardman and Pilmoor together in New York, . . . 178 

CHAPTER VI. 

Pilmoor, Williams, and Whitefield in New York, . . .191 
CHAPTER VII. 

The Philadelphia Heroine and First Methodist Deaconess — 
Mary Thorn, 207 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Philip Embury — His Removal from New York City, . . 222 

CHAPTER IX. 

Pilmoor' s Second Period of Labor in Philadelphia, . . 228 



CONTENTS iX 
CHAPTER X. 

PAGE 

Labors of Pilmoor, Webb, and Boardman in New York, and 
the Resulting Revival in 1770-1771, 242 



CHAPTER XI. 

The Work under Pilmoor, Boardman, Webb, Evans, King, and 
Williams in the Spring and Summer of 1771, . . . 250 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Outspread of Methodism in the Country Prior to the 



Arrival of Francis Asbury, 266 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Arrival of Francis Asbury, 280 

CHAPTER XIV. 

From Asbury* s Arrival until the Departure of Pilmoor to 
the South, 296 

CHAPTER XV. 

Pilmoor's Journey to Maryland, 314 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Boardman in Boston and Wright in New York, . . .321 
CHAPTER XVII. 

Pilmoor's Work in Maryland in 1772, 324 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Origin of the First Methodist Society in Baltimore, . .333 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Pilmoor in Virginia and North Carolina, and the Founding 
of Methodism in Portsmouth and Norfolk, .... 345 

CHAPTER XX. 

Pilmoor's Journey to Charleston and Savannah, . . . 363 



X 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PAGE 

Robert Williams's Forward Movement in Virginia in 1773, . 375 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Methodism in the Middle Colonies down to the First Con- 
ference, 385 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
Pilmoor's Return from the South to the North, . . .391 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The Arrival of Rankin and Shadford and their First Labors 
in America, 404 

CHAPTER XXV. 

The First Methodist Conference in America, .... 415 



THIKD PEEIOD. 



From the First Conference to the Departure of 
boardman and pllmoor to england, . . . .437 



FIEST PERIOD. 

Feom the Beginning of the Wesleyan Movement 
in Amebic a to the Appointment of Me. Wes- 
ley's First Missionaries. 

CHAPTEE I. 

the time and place of the origin of the wesleyan move- 
ment IN AMERICA. 

The first problem which the historian of the Wesleyan 
Movement in America encounters is of a threefold nature, 
namely, When, Where, and How did it begin ? 

For three-quarters of a century there was no debate about 
the place of its origin. All the Methodist historical writers 
of that period, with possibly one exception, concur in ascrib- 
ing the beginning of the movement to Philip Embury in the 
city of New York. 

The exception, if it be an exception, to the unanimity 
of the primitive authorities, consists of two words found in 
Bishop Asbury's Journal, which are, " and America." That 
is to say, the bishop was at Pipe Creek, holding a confer- 
ence in May, 1801, at which time he wrote the following 
sentence : " Here Mr. Strawbridge formed the first society in 
Maryland — and America" Whether he designed positively 
to assert that the first Methodist society in this country was 
founded by Mr. Strawbridge, or whether he merely meant to 
suggest that his society was possibly the first, is a question to 
which I shall recur a little later in this narrative. 

The latest general history of Methodism in America is 
that by Bishop McTyeire. It contains this assertion: "The 



2 



THE WESLEYAIST MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



people who were destined so largely to cultivate the Western 
Continent began their ' clearing ' in 1764 in the woods of 
Frederick (now Carroll) County, Maryland." McTyeire also 
states that " Eobert Strawbridge, in order of time, talent, 
and service stands at the head of the noble ' irregulars ' who 
founded Arminian Methodism in America." These statements 
respecting Strawbridges alleged priority are positive and un- 
qualified, yet I do not find that Bishop McTyeire offers any 
adequate proof of their accuracy. 

We thus see that the question when and where the Wes- 
leyan movement began in this land is in debate. The author 
of the first elaborate history of American Methodism, namely, 
the Rev. Jesse Lee, and all the chief authorities except Led- 
num in 1859 and McTyeire in 1884, date its origin at the 
year 1766. As the earlier writers on this subject are con- 
troverted by later historians, I find it necessary in begin- 
ning my narrative to set forth the facts relating thereto as 
clearly and accurately as I can, in order to show, if possible, 
taken and tohere Methodism originated in this country. 

The first question, then, that claims inquiry is when did 
Methodism first appear in America ? Bishop McTyeire says 
that it was in 1764. An earlier historian, namely, the Rev. 
John Lednum, in his " History of the Bise of Methodism in 
America," cites passages from Dr. Roberts and Dr. Hamilton, 
both of Maryland, in support of a still earlier date, and on 
the authority of Dr. Roberts, he says : " We are assured 
that as soon as Mr. Strawbridge had arranged his house, 
he began to preach in it as early as 1760." If either state- 
ment is correct, then the primitive traditions and authorities 
erroneously attributed the origin of the movement to Philip 
Embury. It is therefore fair to ask whether the statement 
of Lednum or that by McTyeire is supported by adequate 
proof. 

An article on " Early Methodism in Maryland, and espe- 
cially in Baltimore," by the late Rev. William Hamilton, was 
published in the Methodist Quarterly Review, in July, 1856. 
Of Mr. Strawbridge, Dr. Hamilton in that article says : "He 
preached the first sermon, formed the first society, and built 



THE EVANS DOCUMENT 



3 



the first preaching-house for the Methodists in Maryland, 
and in America, being three years, perhaps, earlier than Wes- 
ley Chapel, John Street, New York." It is further stated, in 
the same article, that " a society consisting of twelve or fif- 
teen persons was formed as early as 1763 or 1764, and soon 
after a place of worship was erected about a mile from the 
residence of Mr. Strawbridge." Now, did Dr. Hamilton know 
by indisputable evidence what he thus affirmed ? 

The only proof which he adduces in support of the above 
assertions consists of the two noted words in Asbury's Jour- 
nal, and an unsigned document whose history is obscure, 
but which, says Hamilton, " has the stamp of age and also the 
appearance of being torn from the fly-sheet of a Bible or from 
some old record book." This fugitive fragment bears the 
assertion that John Evans, " about the year 1764, embraced 
the Methodist religion under Mr. Strawbridge." This state- 
ment, however, was not written by John Evans himself, but 
it is asserted that David Evans wrote it, though the writing 
is without his signature. Samuel Evans affixed to it the fol- 
lowing note, which he signed, namely, " The above was writ- 
ten by my father, David Evans." 

Dr. Hamilton says that John Evans was one of Straw- 
bridge's first converts, albeit William Fort asserts that a con- 
versation John Evans had " with Mrs. Strawbridge resulted 
in his conversion to God." * If his son David wrote the above 
statement upon a fly-leaf concerning his conversion, why did 
not David attest it by his signature ? It is not known how 
long a time elapsed after the writing before Samuel Evans 
placed his voucher to its authorship upon the document. 
Neither does David Evans nor Dr. Hamilton indicate the 
nature or authenticity of the data upon the authority of 
which the statement was recorded. We cannot now know 
whether David Evans, in thus declaring that John Evans was 
converted " about the year 1764," acted under a passing im- 
pulse without appropriate deliberation, and wrote entirely 
from memory, or whether he carefully consulted some record 
or tradition of questionable or unquestionable authority. 

* Fort's article in New York Christian Advocate, July 10, 1844. 

o 



4 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Moreover, no word is said respecting the character and habits 
of David Evans whereby an opinion can be formed concern- 
ing his habitual care or carelessness in recording facts, or of 
his trustworthiness as a witness. 

Furthermore, David Evans, if he indited the passage in 
question, shows therein that his knowledge of the time of 
John Evans's conversion was not exact. Had it been definite 
he would scarcely have said that his father became a Metho- 
dist " about the year 1764." That qualifying word " about " 
means uncertainty here, and indicates that whatever may 
have been the character of David Evans for understanding, 
memory, and veracity, he did not know the year in which his 
father embraced Methodism. Not knowing when that event 
did occur, he of course could not record the date thereof, and 
therefore he left it undetermined. 

The article in the Methodist Quarterly Review, in which 
Dr. Hamilton cites the Evans document, demonstrates the 
necessity of caution in accepting historical statements upon 
the mere assertion of any man. In that article Hamilton af- 
firms that John King preached in Baltimore " in the winter 
or spring of 1770." 

Now it is certain that this date is incorrect. John King 
was born and educated in England, and he did not come to 
America until after both the winter and the spring of 1770 
had passed. Joseph Pilmoor, one of the first two mission- 
aries that Mr. Wesley sent to this country, says, in his 
Journal, that on August 18, 1770, John King called upon 
him in Philadelphia, and " said he was just arrived from Eu- 
rope." Thirteen days afterward King preached a trial ser- 
mon before the leaders in Philadelphia, and Pilmoor li- 
censed him to preach. He then sent King into Delaware, 
where he labored successfully in the gospel, and in April, 
1771, Pilmoor found him still there. The inference is inevi- 
table that King did not go to Maryland until after the close 
of the year 1770, and it is certain that he was not in Balti- 
more in the winter or spring of that year. 

In the same article in the Review in which Dr. Hamilton 
asserts that the first Methodist society in America was formed 



EREORS IN THE MARYLAND TRADITIONS 



5 



by Robert Strawbridge, lie likewise declares that " early in 
the summer of 1770 Mr. Pilmoor arrived in Maryland, came 
to Baltimore, and addressed the people once or twice, stand- 
ing on the sidewalk as they came out of St. Paul's Church 
after morning service." 

We are now able to correct the erroneous date in this pas- 
sage. Relying confidently upon such information as he had 
obtained, Dr. Hamilton declared unqualifiedly that Pilmoor 
was in Maryland and also in Baltimore early in the summer 
of 1770 ; whereas the whole of that summer was spent by 
Pilmoor, as his Journal attests, in the cities of New York 
and Philadelphia, save as he made brief preaching visits to 
rural places contiguous thereto. Nor was he in Baltimore at 
any time in 1770. It was not until early in the summer 
(June 4) of 1772 that he looked upon Maryland for the first 
time. All this will more fully appear in the further develop- 
ment of our narrative. Hamilton, then, was in error re- 
specting both King and Pilmoor, as to the time of their 
appearance in Baltimore, and in the case of Pilmoor's visit 
to Maryland and Baltimore he fell two years short of ac- 
curacy. 

Other errors are apparent in these Maryland traditions. 
In the Rev. William Fort's article on the " First Log Meet- 
ing-House," in the New York Christian Advocate of July 10, 
1844, the assertion that " Methodism was operating in Mary- 
land several years before Embury crossed the Atlantic," is 
clearly false. In a petition for a grant of land, addressed by 
Philip Embury and twenty-four other gentlemen to the Hon. 
Robert Monkton, Governor of the Province of New York, 
and dated February 1, 1763, it is declared that about two 
and a half years prior to that date the petitioners arrived in 
New York. This establishes the fact that Embury reached 
the American shore about August, 1760. According to Mr. 
Fort's unqualified assertion, however, Methodism was planted 
in Maryland several years before that time. Another bald 
error in Mr. Fort's article is his statement that Strawbridge 
came not from Ireland, but that he " was from Yorkshire in 
England." It is as certain that Strawbridge emigrated from 



6 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



Ireland to America as it is that he settled and preached in 
Maryland. 

Thus we see how seriously the traditions concerning 
Strawbridge and events in the primitive Methodist history of 
Maryland are blemished by errors. The Evans document, 
on which Hamilton fully relies as a sure authority, does not 
pretend to be exact. Fort, on the contrary, is positive in his 
assertions respecting Strawbridge, and yet they are totally 
and transparently erroneous. Now, if he so missed the truth 
in his attempt to illuminate a somewhat obscure history, 
and if Dr. Hamilton failed so signally in accuracy in the 
assertions he made so dogmatically concerning the time that 
King and Pilmoor first preached in Baltimore, may not 
David Evans have erred also in saying that his father's con- 
version occurred " about 1764? " Is it possible in reason to 
accept such a document, undated and unsigned by the writer, 
and upon it ground the conclusion that Strawbridge's work 
preceded Embury's by the space of two years ? 

In the settlement of the question of ivhen the Wesley an 
movement began in America everything depends upon the 
precision and certainty of dates. The subject is chronologi- 
cal ; and neither logic nor rhetoric can illumine it except so 
far as they may dissipate obscurities, expose errors, and bring 
into view the truth concerning the dates. At the best, the 
alleged date of the conversion of John Evans is based upon 
a tradition which at some unknown time was recorded upon 
a fugitive fly-leaf by some one whom Samuel Evans asserts 
was his father, namely, David Evans. Yet this undated, un- 
signed, indefinite fragment is so esteemed by Dr. Hamilton 
that he declares that it " settles, we think, the true origin of 
Methodism in America." Mr. Crook in fairness says : "It 
is more than probable that this 1764 was 1767 or 1768, as 
the phrase 'about the year 1764' may include a period of 
three or four years." * As a guide in the determination of 
the time of the beginning of the ministerial work of Straw- 
bridge in Maryland, I regard the Evans document as with- 

* Ireland and the Centenary of American Methodism, by the Rev. William 
Crook, p. 158. 



asbury's inaccuracy as a historian 



7 



out value. At the best it fails to give an exact date, and there 
is nothing to show that the time of John Evans's conversion, 
which it suggests was 11 about 1764," was not the mere guess 
of the writer. 

The next piece of evidence which Dr. Hamilton cited in 
support of the alleged Maryland origin of American Meth- 
odism consists of two words in italics in Bishop Asbury's 
Journal, namely — " and America" In an earlier edition of 
the Journal both words were italicized, whereas in the cur- 
rent edition only the word " America" is in italics. 

The history of these two noted words seems to have been 
this— that in the month of May, 1801, the bishop was at 
Pipe Creek holding a Conference. He was upon the ground 
where the local preacher from Ireland achieved his fame as 
the first Methodist evangelist in Maryland. There it is likely 
Asbury heard statements concerning the work of Strawbridge. 
Then he wrote these words, to wit: "Here Mr. Strawbridge 
formed the first society in Maryland — and America." 

In determining the degree of importance that should be 
attached to this record of Asbury in five syllables, it is neces- 
sary to bring into view a few facts respecting his want of ac- 
curacy as a historian. 

The Minutes of the American Methodist Conferences were 
published in a volume in 1794. The preface thereto is un- 
signed, but is dated " Botetourt, May 24, 1794." Asbury, be- 
ing then in Botetourt County, Va., says in his Journal that on 
the day prior to that date he was " preparing the Minutes." 
Obviously, then, he edited the volume. In it he gave June, 
1773, as the time of the first Conference, whereas it sat July 
14-16, 1773. He was in that historic body and recorded its 
date correctly in his Journal, which was published before the 
volume in question. Therefore, he could readily have found 
the real date. The incorrect date of the first Conference which 
he sent forth yet stands upon all the published Minutes thereof. 

An example of Bishop Asbury's vagueness as a narrator 
of Methodist history appears in a letter which he wrote to 
the Bev. Stith Mead, of Virginia, July 30, 1807, in which he 
says : " Methodism began in America 1769 or 1770 but chiefly ; 



8 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

as very little was done till the latter end of the year 1771 
except a small beginning in New York and Philadelphia." 
I have given not only the exact words but the punctuation 
also of this passage from the original autograph manuscript. 
The passage is at least singular and it scarcely fulfils the re- 
quirements of exact and veracious history. 

In this communication the bishop is as silent respecting 
Maryland as if there had been no Methodism within its 
borders in " the latter end of 1771 ; " whereas the movement 
was then making important progress there, and less than 
two years later the membership of that province was reported 
by the first American Conference to be five hundred, which 
was nearly equal to that of New York and Philadelphia com- 
bined. He also seems to say here that Methodism did not 
begin in America until 1769 or later. 

There is an important omission by Asbury in his Journal 
in 1803, where he essayed to record the number of Methodists 
that were in the country in the year of his arrival. " In 
1771," he writes, "there were about three hundred Methodists 
in New York, two hundred and fifty in Philadelphia, and a 
few in Jersey." There is no intimation here of the existence 
of any Methodists in Maryland, though there were in that 
province at that time a fair proportion of the total number in 
the country. By this omission Asbury conveyed the idea 
that there were no Methodists south of New Jersey in 1771 
almost as clearly as though he had stated it verbally. In 
the field Bishop Asbury was a hero and a giant. He knew 
men and could lead them. His hand could grasp and shape 
the developing Methodism of a continent ; but in writing 
details of history he was not masterful. Nicholas Snethen, 
once his travelling companion, in a funeral discourse on 
Asbury says, " his talent was almost wholly executive. In 
a judicial or legislative capacity he seemed not to excel." 
Neither did he excel as a writer of historic facts. 

A brief history of Methodism in the United States 
appeared in the "Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church," in the year 1787. 

The Bev. Jesse Lee says that Asbury issued that particu- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 1787 



9 



lar edition of the Discipline,* and therefore we are war- 
ranted in believing that he wrote or at least sanctioned the 
historical sketch which was inserted therein. That sketch 
is in the following words, to wit : 

" Question 2. What was the rise of Methodism, so called, 
in America ? 

"Answer. During the space of thirty years past certaii) 
persons, members of the society, emigrated from England 
and Ireland and settled in various parts of this country. 
About twenty years ago Philip Embury, a local preacher from 
Ireland, began to preach in the city of New York, and formed 
a society of his own countrymen and the citizens. About the 
same time Kobert Strawbridge, a local preacher from Ireland, 
settled in Frederick County, in the State of Maryland, and 
preaching there formed some societies. In 1769, Richard 
Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor came to New York, who were 
the first regular Methodist preachers on the Continent. In 
the latter end of the year 1771 Francis Asbury and Richard 
Wright of the same order came over." 

This short narrative was designed to instruct the Ameri- 
can Methodists concerning the origin of their church. It 
was printed, with Bishop Asbury 's authority, in their " Book 
of Discipline." It was written, too, at an early day, " about 
twenty years," after the beginning of Methodism in the coun- 
try. 

At that time it was easy to acquire a knowledge of 
the precise year of its origin, for witnesses thereof were 
living with fresh and vivid memories of the time, the 
scenes, and the agencies therein concerned. Asbury himseK 
had been personally familiar with some of those witnesses, 
and with the localities to which he refers, for about sixteen 
years. He knew Robert Strawbridge, and associated with 

* Lee, in his History of the Methodists (p. 127) says : u In the course of this year 
[1787] Mr. Asbury reprinted the General Minutes, but in a different form from what 
they were before. The title of this pamphlet was, A Form of Discipline for the 
Ministers, Preachers, and Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America," 
etc. 



10 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



him for about a decade in labor. Had he been concerned 
about the accuracy of the historic resume which he gave to his 
church in official form in 1787, he surely might have as- 
certained and recorded not only the precise year in which 
Embury began to preach in New York, but also the year of 
the commencement of the evangelical labors of Strawbridge 
in Maryland. It seems, however, that he did not appreciate 
the high importance of definite dates in a narrative of histori- 
cal events of such signal interest and moment. So without 
taking the trouble to give to his people precise information 
of the time of the origin of their cause, he merely said : 
"About twenty years ago, Philip Embury began to preach in 
the city of New York and formed a society. About the same 
time Eobert Strawbridge settled in Frederick County," etc. 
From such indefinite statements no student of Methodism 
could determine the year of its beginning in America. 

Furthermore, this sketch in the Discipline of 1787 is not 
only wanting in exactness with respect to dates, but it is also, 
in at least one particular, distinctly inaccurate. That inaccu- 
racy I will now point out. 

Boardman and Pilmoor came to America in 1769, but they 
did not both reach New York in that year. They disem- 
barked at Gloucester Point, New Jersey, October 21, 1769,* 
and after they had "rested a little while at a public-house" 
they walked to Philadelphia. In that city Boardman opened 
their mission by a sermon on the Call of Abraham, and soon 
departed for New York. Pilmoor remained the rest of the 
autumn and all of the ensuing winter in Philadelphia, and 
did not go to New York at all in 1769. Yet in the official 
historical sketch in the Discipline, for which Bishop Asbury 
was responsible and which he probably wrote, it is said that 
they " came to New York" in 1769. There is not an intima- 
tion in that sketch that they came directly from London to 
Philadelphia, which was the fact ; nor that upon their arrival 
either of them did any service in the latter city, whereas Pil- 
moor remained and spent five months of successful labor 

* Not on October 24th of that year, as Lee and later Methodist historians uni- 
formly assert. 



THE COMING OF THE FIEST MISSIONAEIES 11 

there. Philadelphia was a no less important arena of the 
growing Wesleyan cause than New York, and it was at that 
time the more populous town. Boardman, as we have just 
seen, began his American labors in Philadelphia, yet the his- 
tory of Methodism printed in the Discipline in 1787 does not 
even mention that city in connection with his arrival or 
his work, but says, " In 1769 Richard Boardman and Joseph 
Pilmoor came to New York." If existing records, includ- 
ing Joseph Pilmoor's manuscripts, did not show the in- 
accuracy of that statement, the historical student would be 
compelled to believe that both Boardman and Pilmoor came 
from England direct to New York in 1769, and that both 
began their mission in that city at once ; whereas they both 
preached in Philadelphia before proceeding to New York. 

Now Francis Asbury came to America two years after 
Boardman and Pilmoor. With them he was associated in 
ministerial labor. When this erroneous statement was pub- 
lished by him there were Methodists in Philadelphia who re- 
membered the arrival of the missionaries there, and Pilmoor 
himself was then residing in or near that city. Indeed, in 
the funeral discourse preached by Ezekiel Cooper on Bishop 
Asbury, after his death in 1816, there is an allusion to the 
fact that Mr. Pilmoor was at that time residing in Philadel- 
phia. The sources of accurate information concerning the 
arrival of these first two Wesleyan missionaries were acces- 
sible to Asbury. Yet the first piece of Methodist history 
which emanated from his pen is marred not only by inexact- 
ness, but also by error respecting them. This seems to have 
been attributable to his indifference to, or want of apprecia- 
tion of, the importance of precision and accuracy in historical 
statements. Apparently he was wanting in what has been 
called the " historic sense." 

The short history of the origin of the Wesleyan cause in 
this country, which was first published in the " Discipline of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church" in the year 1787, continued 
to appear in the subsequent annual editions of that official 
publication until 1791. A history of the denomination was 
prefixed to the edition of the Discipline of the latter year, 



12 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



which was somewhat more full and definite than that which 
was published in the four preceding editions. The state- 
ments in the historical sketch of 1787 are retained in that of 

1791, including the inaccuracy respecting Boardman and 
Pilmoor, with the addition of a date of the beginning of 
Embury's work. Other matters also are inserted. This 
document again appeared unchanged in the Discipline of 

1792, where it is embodied in the prefatory address of Bishops 
Coke and Asbury, to which their names are affixed. Thus 
they both gave to it their personal and official sanction and 
became avowedly responsible for the statements it contains. 
It did not appear in the Discipline entire after 1792. Dr. 
Stevens erroneously says that it appeared in the Discipline 
of 1790." I shall here reproduce it verbatim, as it appeared 
in the " Methodist Episcopal Discipline " in 1791, and again, 
without change, in 1792. 

" During the space of thirty years past certain persons, 
members of the society, emigrated from England and Ireland 
and settled in various parts of this country. In the latter end 
of the year 1766 Phillip Embury, a local preacher from Ire- 
land, began to preach in the city of New York and formed a 
society of his own countrymen and the citizens. In the same 
year Thomas "Webb preached in a hired room near the bar- 
racks, and in the year 1767 the rigging-house was occupied. 
About the same time Robert Strawbridge, a local preacher 
from Ireland, settled in Frederick County, Maryland, and 
preaching there formed some societies. The first Methodist 
church in New York was built in 1768 or 1769, and in 1769 
Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor came to New York. 
In the latter end of the year 1771 Francis Asbury and Rich- 
ard Wright, of the same order, came over. 

"And we humbly believe that God's design in raising up 
preachers called Methodists in America was to reform the 
continent, and spread scriptural holiness over these lands. 
As a proof hereof we have seen in the space of twenty-two 
years a great and glorious work of God from New York, 

* Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, vol. i., p. 71. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 1791 



13 



through the Jersies, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North 
and South Carolina, and Georgia, and also the extremities of 
the western settlements." 

A degree of indefiniteness and of inaccuracy also appears in 
this revised and expanded narrative. A notable example of 
inexactness is the time to which it assigns the erection of the 
first Methodist church in New York. It is inconceivable 
that it was not easily possible for Francis Asbury to ascer- 
tain in 1791 the year in which that edifice arose. He had 
preached in it in the latter part of 1771. During the twenty 
years following he was much in New York ; yet at the end of 
that period he was uncertain whether the John Street Church 
was built in 1768 or in 1769. He was giving to the members 
and preachers of the church of which he was superintendent 
a narration of the most prominent events in its history ; yet 
he failed to ascertain for them the year in which the first 
public edifice of the denomination was built. Nor does it ap- 
pear that when a year had passed after the publication of this 
official history of Methodism that Bishop Asbury had reached 
any more definite knowledge, for the same inexactness re- 
specting the time of the church's erection is found in the 
same document in the Discipline of 1792. 

Now this historic sketch must have been drawn up within 
twenty-three years after the church in New York was built, 
when the memory of its construction was yet vivid in many 
minds. Numbers of people were then living in the city 
who saw its walls arise. Its erection was noted by both its 
friends and its foes. A goodly number of the citizens of 
New York, irrespective of denominational affiliation, contrib- 
uted to the funds for the building ; and many of these must 
have been in active life when the Discipline of 1791 was 
issued. Had he appreciated in a sufficient degree the im- 
portance of exact and accurate historical writing, Asbury 
would surely have informed both himself and the readers of 
the Discipline concerning the year in which the potential 
event of the erection of the first Methodist preaching-house 
in New York occurred. 



14 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



Thus much have we ascertained respecting Asbury's lack 
of precision and accuracy in his historical writings. In this 
critical examination of important documents I have nothing 
to do with individuals as such, nor with the reverence which 
is worthily bestowed upon venerable and renowned names. 
It is my office as a historian to deal justly and impartially 
with facts as I find them. Only the judicial temper befits a 
writer of history, whose first and highest duty it is, at what- 
ever cost of time or pains or personal prepossessions, to as- 
certain the truth and accurately state it. The fact that As- 
bury was always so busy in the field where he was making 
history, explains in some degree his want of correctness as a 
historical writer. It may be said that such faults as I have 
pointed out in these primitive and official documents are 
trivial. I must insist that this is not so, because where error 
and truth are intermingled in any historical work it cannot be 
accepted as reliable. Absolute trustworthiness is demanded 
in historic narrative ; but this cannot be secured except by 
the most vigilant and rigid endeavor to exclude all inaccura- 
cies respecting dates, places, persons, and events. History, if 
written without due regard to truth, degenerates into romance. 

With respect to the first two preachers sent by the founder 
of Methodism to this country, both of whom gave more than 
four years of devoted service here, it is surely of some impor- 
tance that any official account of their coming and of their 
entrance upon their mission should be accurate. The humble 
movement which has attained to proportions so vast, and 
which they did so much to develop, requires no less than 
this. If told at all the story o* their coming and of the com- 
mencement of their work should be told correctly. Neither 
is it a matter of indifference that in such a narrative the pre- 
cise time when the first Wesleyan chapel was built in the 
American metropolis and continent should be given, yet had 
we now to rely exclusively for our knowledge thereof upon 
the history that was put into the Methodist Episcopal Dis- 
cipline by Bishop Asbury in 1791 and 1792, we should not 
know whether that achievement was accomplished in 1768 or 
in 1769. Moreover, had Asbury included in that history the 



asbury' s two italicized words 



15 



particulars and the date of Strawbridge's first labors in Mary- 
land, the data for which were accessible through Mrs. Straw- 
bridge, who was alive in all those years from 1787 to 1792, 
he would have determined whether the Maryland or the New 
York society was formed first beyond all disputation. He 
did not choose to do this. Therefore the year in which 
Strawbridge first preached in the land of the Chesapeake is 
and must always be unknown. 

The significant fact intended to be shown by this review of 
some historical writings of Bishop Asbury has now been 
established, namely, that he did not always attain to precision 
and accuracy in relating historic events. Therefore his brief 
and uncircumstantial journalistic statement, if statement it 
be, that Strawbridge formed the first society of Methodists 
in America at Pipe Creek, cannot be accepted as the conclu- 
sion of a thoroughly painstaking and uniformly correct his- 
torical authority. We have seen that in his narration of sig- 
nificant events in American Methodist history Asbury faltered 
in a noticeable degree both as to exactness and correctness. 
May he not then, from lack of sufficient investigation, have 
been wanting in clear and exact knowledge of the facts in the 
case when he struck from his pen the two words in his Jour- 
nal which Dr. William Hamilton and others have understood 
as affirming the antecedence of the Maryland Methodist so- 
ciety ? If the bishop meant so to affirm, it is remarkable 
that in doing it he should have employed only ten letters of 
the alphabet. The use of a few more words might have dis- 
persed the ambiguity of the passage. I, at least, cannot be 
sure whether Asbury meant by these two words to declare or 
to interrogate — whether he designed to say that he was cer- 
tain, or that he was in doubt about the priority of the society 
of Strawbridge. This, too, is about the way an authority, 
Mr. Seaman, views the matter, as is shown in his " Annals of 
Methodism in New York City." 

But granting that Bishop Asbury intended in the two 
words which we are now considering to declare the priority 
of the Maryland society, he fails to indicate any proof of the 
correctness of his declaration. We surely then are entitled 



16 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



to oppose to the unproven assertion of one early and eminent 
Methodist historical writer the assertion of another early, 
and as a Methodist historian an even more eminent, writer. 
Therefore I shall set against the Journal of Francis Asbury, 
in 1801, the Journal of Jesse Lee of that very year. 

Jesse Lee was the first writer who gave to the people an 
elaborate history of American Methodism. He was one of 
the chief preachers of the denomination throughout the 
period of Asbury's episcopal career. He travelled, as he in- 
forms us, "from St. Mary's River in Georgia to Passama- 
quoddy Bay in Maine." He was the founder of Methodism 
in New England. He was almost elected a bishop by the 
General Conference of 1800. His journalistic record of his 
wide wanderings and fruitful labors was destroyed in the 
conflagration of the Book Concern in New York in 1836. 
Before that catastrophe the "Memoirs of Lee," by the Rev. 
Manton Thrift, came from the press. Numerous passages in 
Lee's Journal are preserved in that biography. One of those 
passages is an account of the origin of Methodism in New 
York, which Lee recorded while he was employed in minis- 
terial service in that city in the early part of 1801. We have 
already seen what Asbury wrote at Pipe Creek in 1801 ; we 
shall now bring into view what Lee wrote in New York early 
in the same year. Lee says : 

" I will here set down an account of the beginning of 
Methodism in the city of New York, which was the first so- 
ciety formed in the United States. This society was formed 
by Philip Embury, from Ireland, in the beginning of the year 
1766, when a few of his own countrymen were joined together 
with him. He then exhorted and prayed with them, and 
spoke to them about the state of their souls. After a short 
time some of the inhabitants of New York joined with them. 
They then hired a sail-loft, in which they met, and Mr. Em- 
bury used to preach, exhort, etc. Captain Webb, an officer in 
the British army, came amongst them, and was much engaged 
in religion, and preached frequently. After some time they 
purchased a lot of ground in John Street, on which they 



asbury's and lee's journals in opposition 17 



built a church, in the year 1768 ; and on the 30th day of Oc- 
tober, in the same year, the church was opened for divine 
worship; and Mr. Embury preached the dedication sermon. 
It is now a little upwards of thirty -two years since our so- 
ciety had a house of worship in this place, and they have 
been increasing and multiplying ever since." 

Another fact which should be here noted is that nine years 
after this account of the origin of Methodism in this country 
was written by Mr. Lee in New York City, he published his 
" History of the Methodists." In the early years of the nine- 
teenth century he studied the beginnings and progress of the 
Wesley an movement in America with reference to his literary 
project. For that reason probably he, while a pastor in New 
York in the early months of 1801, gave his attention to the 
origin of the cause there. He recorded the results of his in- 
vestigation in his Journal as above shown. In the nine 
years following 1801, in which no doubt he was gathering 
and collating material for the history of Methodism which he 
published in 1810, he had abundant opportunity to revise 
the account he wrote in 1801 of the origin of Methodism in 
New York and the continent, if further researches had proved 
it to be in any particular incorrect. Yet in his History in 1810 
he strictly adhered to what he had written in his Journal in 
New York City in 1801. He says in his History what he had 
previously said in his Journal, namely : "In the beginning of 
the year 1766 the first permanent Methodist society was 
formed in the city of New York ; " and he further says : 
" Not long after the society was formed in New York, Kobert 
Strawbridge, from Ireland, who had settled in Maryland, be- 
gan to hold meetings in public and joined a society together 
near Pipe Creek." Thus, as we see, Lee still maintained in 
his " History of the Methodists " in 1810 what he had affirmed 
in his Journal in 1801, namely, that Embury originated " the 
first society formed in the United States." Surely he would 
not have recorded such a statement in a history for future 
generations to scan, had not the results of his researches 
as a historian fully warranted it. He perhaps had opportu- 



18 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEIiiCA 

nity to know what Asbury, in 1801, had said in two words 
abont Strawbridge's priority in America ; indeed in the 
preface to his History Lee says he had consulted "Mr. 
Francis Asbury's journals, bound and unbound." 

It must be noted, too, that Lee was of Southern birth. 
In the South-land he was educated, converted, and began his 
illustrious ministry. From his departure from New York, in 
1801, to the end of his life, all his time, except about a year, 
was spent in the Southern country, mostly in Virginia. He 
was familiar, too, with Maryland. He labored in a circuit 
contiguous to Baltimore in 1787, and in that city immediately 
thereafter. He must have heard, then, of the departed 
Strawbridge, and of his Wesleyan pioneering in that region. 
Mrs. Strawbridge was then living, and it is reasonable to as- 
sume that Lee met her and conversed with her. As a man 
of shrewd observation, to whom the study of Methodist his- 
tory was attractive, it is probable that at that time he was 
alert in gathering, comparing, and attesting facts about his 
denomination and its heroes, and that he was specially inter- 
ested in whatever incidents he found that illustrated the ori- 
gin of Methodism in this land. To such facts he no doubt 
gave careful attention while he was at or near the locality of 
Strawbridge's first American labors, and among the people 
who knew him and cherished his name. Therefore we may 
believe that Jesse Lee was informed concerning the time 
when Methodism was planted in Maryland, and that when, 
in 1801, he wrote that in New York " was the first society 
formed in the United States," and in 1810, when he reas- 
serted the same thing in his History, he was clearly satis- 
fied that his statement was true. 

Lee was a careful and a reliable historian. There seem to 
be but few, if any, erroneous statements of importance in his 
History. In the preface to his work, he says : " I have 
been as careful as possible to state dates and facts such as I 
think will be for the information of pious people." Not 
only was he careful about his statements, but he was also 
diligent and painstaking in gathering the data upon which he 
based them. In the preface to his History, he says: "I 



lee's accuracy AS a historian 



19 



have read over more tliau two thousand pages of my Journal 
and consulted many of the travelling and local preachers in 
order to ascertain historical facts and useful things which 
have never yet been published." He says: "I have con- 
sulted every author I could find who I thought would af- 
ford information on this subject, especially Wesley's ' Jour- 
nals,' his ' Ecclesiastical History,' and his ' Life,' by Dr. 
Coke and Mr. Moore. Also the ' Methodist Memorial,' by 
Mr. Atmore, Mr. William Myles's ' Chronological History 
of,' and Mr. Joseph Benson's ' Apology for the People 
called Methodists.' " He also consulted " the magazines 
published by the Methodists, Freeborn Garrettson's ' Trav- 
els,' and William Watter's ' Life.' " He was an industrious 
and competent investigator as well as writer of historical 
facts. The careful reader who is familiar with the subject 
cannot fail to be impressed with the remarkable accuracy of 
his History. This accuracy he sought to secure, for in 
the preface to his work he affirms : "I have used my ut- 
most endeavors to avoid errors, and to send into the world 
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." His 
book — the product of such patient investigation and rigid 
care — fairly entitles him to the rank of the most reliable his- 
torical authority of American Methodism for the period it 
embraces.* In the preface thereto he says : " I believe no 
preacher born in America has had a better opportunity of 
being thoroughly acquainted with the Methodists than I 
have." This declaration is vindicated by the accuracy of his 
History. " His work," says an eminent authority, " is as 
comprehensive and accurate in its account of Methodism as 
it is unpretending in its style and veracious in its statements. 
His industry in collecting facts and his fidelity in recording 
them, will entitle him to the respect and gratitude of Method- 
ism to the latest period of its history." t 

* In this estimate of Lee's superior reliability as a historical authority I do not 
include the Rev. Joseph Pilmoor, who left in a journalistic form an authoritative 
history of Methodism in America, but it is in manuscript, and only detached and 
small portions of it have up to this time been published. It covers only the period 
from August, 1769, to January, 1774 

t The Rev. Dr. Leroy M. Lee, in Life and Times of the Rev. Jesse Lee, p. 465. 
3 



20 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Possibly some one may say that in according the priority 
to Embury, Jesse Lee was guided by the short historical 
narrative which was published in the Methodist Episcopal 
Discipline, in the latter part of the eighteenth century. 
While it is said in that narrative that Strawbridge " settled 
in Maryland " " about the same time " that Embury was fix- 
ing the foundations of the cause in New York, yet it conveys 
the impression of Embury's priority. Therefore it may be 
inferred, I repeat, that Lee was governed by the Disciplin- 
ary Sketch in what he wrote of the origin of Methodism in 
this land. 

It is certain, however, that he did not carelessly accept the 
statements in that official history, for one of the most impor- 
tant therein he has distinctly contradicted ; and he has 
thereby shown that his reliance was not upon what an official 
historian had written, but upon his own original researches. 
In the revised and expanded form in which the history of 
the American Wesley an cause appeared in the " Discipline of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church" in 1791 and 1792, it is said 
that its origin in New York was in " the latter end of the year 
1766." This particular date was continued in every succes- 
sive edition of that Discipline for over a century. Yet Jesse 
Lee, the accurate and authoritative historian, rejected it in 
his Journal in 1801, when he asserted therein that the " New 
York society was formed by Philip Embury in the beginning 
of the year 1766 ; " and he did the same in his History in 
1810, where he reaffirmed that " in the beginning of the year 
1766, the first permanent Methodist society was formed in 
the city of New York." 

Lee, as a foremost leader of American Methodism, could 
not have been ignorant of the fact that the Discipline 
dated its origin in " the latter end of the year 1766." That 
date had stood in that official publication^ for about a decade, 
when, in 1801, in the city of New York, Lee wrote in his 
Journal that "the first society in the United States was 
formed by Philip Embury in the beginning of the year 1766." 
The same date had been standing in the Discipline for nine- 
teen years, when this careful investigator and painstaking 



LEE VERSUS ASBURY 



21 



historian again contradicted it by stating in his " History of 
the Methodists " that " in the beginning of the year 1766 the 
first permanent Methodist society was formed in the city of 
New York." The date of the New York origin which Lee 
opposed to that of Asbury was not hastily promulgated. I 
repeat that to the date in the Discipline Lee opposed his 
earlier date in his Journal in 1801, and then again in his 
History in 1810, when the Disciplinary date, reproduced with 
each annual reissue of the book, was nearly a score of years 
old. At that time, with abundant opportunity for reviewing 
and revising what he had written years before, Lee sent forth 
the earlier date, with the declaration that he had endeavored 
to the utmost " to send into the world the truth and nothing 
but the truth." 

Nor can it be believed that Lee was influenced in favor of 
the priority of Embury by any personal bias toward New 
York. His nativity, his ties, and his associations would natu- 
rally predispose him to accord to Maryland and Strawbridge 
the honor of the priority if the truth would warrant it. For 
some time preceding the publication of his History, and, in- 
deed, at the very time that it was passing through the press, 
he was the chaplain of the National Congress at Washing- 
ton. As in New York City in 1801 he had good facilities 
for proving the correctness of the date of Embury's work 
which he there and then recorded ; so in 1810, in the land of 
the Potomac, he had the opportunity to disprove the alleged 
antecedence of the New York society, if evidence existed in the 
region of Strawbridge's labors by which he could do it. The 
fact that Lee's book was printed in Baltimore during his offi- 
cial residence in Washington also is corroborative of the pre- 
sumption, which on other grounds is sufficiently warranted, 
that he was thoroughly satisfied that the statement he 
made in it of Embury's priority was perfectly accurate. The 
fact, likewise, that he said in his printed volume what he 
wrote in his manuscript Journal nine years previously, name- 
ly, that Embury began his New York labors in the beginning 
of 1766, notwithstanding Asbury had for nineteen years been 
declaring in the Discipline that it was in the latter end of 



22 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



that year, warrants the belief that Lee's investigations had 
brought him to the sure conclusion that the date in the 
Discipline was not accurate, and that, as a faithful historian, 
he was compelled to write that the time of the origin of the 
Methodist Movement in America was in the beginning of the 
year 1766, the Discipline to the contrary notwithstanding. 

We now clearly see that the journalistic statement of As- 
bury and that of Lee thus brought into view, one of which was 
made in the year 1801 at Pipe Creek, and the other at New 
York in the same year, are contradictory, allowing that which 
is not certain, namely, that Asbury did indeed intend to declare 
rather than to suggest tentatively that Strawbridge's society 
was first. Bishop Asbury, at Pipe Creek in May, 1801, said : 
" Here Mr. Strawbridge formed the first society in Maryland 
— and America.'" Jesse Lee, a short time previously in the 
same year in New York said : "In the city of New York was 
the first society formed in the United States." Asbury, so 
far as is known, never thereafter made orally or in writing 
any declaration like that of the two italicized words concern- 
ing Pipe Creek. Lee, on the contrary, nine years subse- 
quently, in a " History of the Methodists," formally and with 
the authoritativeness of a careful historical investigator and 
writer, reasserted that the society formed by Embury was the 
first and that its origin dates from the beginning of 1766, and 
not from the latter end of that year. 

In view of all the facts and reasons above given, I am 
compelled to accept Lee as a better historical authority than 
Asbury, and therefore to receive his statements respecting 
the time and the place of the origin of the Wesley an move- 
ment in America as veritable history. In saying this I do 
not impeach the honesty or fairness of Asbury, but must 
believe that from lack of research or through inadvertence he 
signally failed at times in historical accuracy. To the two 
italicized words in Asbury 's J ournal, written in 1801, is op- 
posed the circumstantial account of the rise of Methodism in 
New York recorded in that city in 1801 by Jesse Lee in his 
Journal, and nine years afterward repeated in substance by 
him in his "History of the Methodists." Accepting then 



ASBURY INVALIDATED BY LEE 



23 



Lee's statement, I am constrained to say that according to 
the most painstaking and reliable historical authority extant 
the Wesleyan reformation in the New World began in the be- 
ginning of the year 1766, in New York City, in connection with 
the labors of Philip Embury. 

This date of Lee, of itself, goes far toward invalidating 
the two italicized words in Asbury's Journal, namely, " and 
America." Asbury in the Discipline fixed the time of the 
origin of Methodism in New York in the latter end of 1766, 
and then he adds that " about the same time " Mr. Straw- 
bridge settled in Frederick County, Maryland. That is to 
say, according to Asbury, the time of Strawbridge's settle- 
ment in Maryland was about the end of 1766. I assume, of 
course, that he reckoned from that period when he wrote the 
two notable words to which so much importance has been 
attached by the advocates of Strawbridge's priority. Had he 
reckoned from the earlier date of Lee, it can scarcely be be- 
lieved that he would have written the two italicized words in 
question in his Journal, inasmuch as Lee's date places the 
origin of Embury's society from eight to eleven months ear- 
lier than the date given in the historical sketch in the Disci- 
pline of 1791. The case then may be stated thus : If the 
two Irish lay preachers commenced their work in this coun- 
try at " about the same time," and that time was by Asbury 
understood to have been " the latter end of 1766 ; " and in 
reality it was not at that time but in the beginning of 1766 
that Embury began his labors in New York, how could it be 
affirmed that "Mr. Strawbridge [about the latter end of 1766] 
formed the first society in America ? " 

If, as Asbury states, Strawbridge settled in Maryland 
about the latter end of 1766, and Embury, as Lee states, be- 
gan his New York ministry in the beginning of the same year, 
and Lee is, as we concede, correct, then Embury's priority is 
thereby established. 

Lee's date of the origin of Methodism in New York, and 
also his deliberately repeated declaration of the priority of 
Embury, have the sanction, at least, of Bishop Asbury's si- 
lence. He read the "History of the Methodists," and wrote 



24 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



his approval thereof. In the third volume of his Journal, 
(page 340) Asburj says : "I have seen Jesse Lee's History 
for the first time. It is better than I expected." The bishop 
dissents from something which Lee therein said of him, but 
otherwise he makes no criticism of the work. If, in Asbury's 
view, Lee erred in according priority to the society in New 
York, and in asserting in opposition to the Discipline of 
1791, and all the subsequent editions of that publication, 
that the time of the society's origin was the beginning of 1766, 
the errors were of sufficient import to call for correction, and 
especially as they contradicted Asbury himself. But the 
bishop showed no sign of an inclination to challenge any of 
Lee's dates. As his notice of Lee's History was written 
nine years after he wrote the two notable words in his 
Journal at Pipe Creek, it is a pertinent question if he 
really meant those words to be a declaration of the priority 
of Strawbridge, and had found no cause for revising his con- 
clusion, why did he not, while noticing Lee's work in his Jour- 
nal, indicate his belief that the History of American Meth- 
odism, by Jesse Lee was in that particular at fault ? He 
gives no such indication. Is it not then fair to conclude that 
here, at least, Asbury, by "silence, gives consent? " 

Having thus investigated the evidence presented by Dr. 
Hamilton to show that the society at Pipe Creek was ante- 
cedent to that in New York, I will now proceed to examine 
what Dr. Koberts says in the same behalf. 

The following passage by Dr. Roberts was reproduced in 
Lednum's "History of Methodism in America," from an 
article in the New York Christian Advocate of April 29, 1858. 
It shows the grounds on which Roberts based his plea for 
the priority of the Maryland society. He says : 

" I have in my possession some letters, written by different 
individuals at a distance from each other and without any 
concert upon their part, which disclose some interesting facts. 
I have space only to notice a few. Mr. Michael Laird, who 
subsequently settled in Philadelphia, was born April 30, 
1771. He obtained his knowledge of these points from his 
father, who was intimate with Mr. Strawbridge and fully con- 



THE MAYNARD TRADITION 



25 



versant with the truth of what is stated in his letter. Mr. 
Strawbridge came to America in 1760, with his wife and chil- 
dren, and settled in Maryland. Immediately after arranging 
his dwelling he opened it for divine service, and continued to 
preach therein regularly. These efforts soon after resulted 
in the awakening and conversion of several who attended. 

" In another communication I ascertain that Henry 
Maynard was baptized (by Eobert Strawbridge) when he was 
but six or seven years old. At that time Mr. S. was preach- 
ing regularly at John Maynard' s, a brother of Henry. Henry 
accompanied his father to one of these appointments, and 
Mr. S. baptized him at the spring. 

"Henry Maynard died in 1837, aged eighty-one years. 
This fixes his baptism as early as 1762. John Maynard, at 
whose house Mr. Strawbridge was then preaching, was him- 
self a Methodist. This renders it positive that Mr. S. had 
been engaged in preaching regularly prior to 1762, and fully 
corroborates the statement contained in Mr. Laird's letter, 
viz., that he commenced his labors in the ministry immedi- 
ately after his settlement in Maryland." 

If the letters referred to in these paragraphs contained 
proof of Strawbridge's priority, Dr. Roberts might appropri- 
ately have produced it in the language of the writers. We 
have a right to hear the witnesses testify. Would a court 
admit an advocate's version of what his witnesses said with- 
out hearing them relate it before the jury ? 

Dr. Roberts says that Mr. Laird "obtained his knowl- 
edge of these points from his father ; " and then he abruptly 
declares that " Mr. Strawbridge came to America in 1760, 
with his wife and children, and settled in Maryland." 
Whether Laird said that in the letter, or whether it is merely 
an inference drawn by Roberts from something else that he 
therein said, is not stated. 

In the Laird portion of the case, as presented by Dr. 
Roberts, there are a few things to be noted : 

I. The date of Strawbridge's emigration, namely, 1760, 
is obviously erroneous. All the known facts in relation to 
the commencement of the ministry of Robert Strawbridge in 



26 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



Maryland, are opposed to the hypothesis that it was in the 
year 1760. There is absolutely no authoritative word in sup- 
port of a date so remote. Testimony given by Michael Laird 
himself, which I will now cite, certainly does not prove it. 
Mr. Laird says : " Mr. Strawbridge emigrated from the 
neighborhood of Drummersnave, a small village about four 
miles from Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim, Ireland, 
and settled in Maryland. I was intimately acquainted with 
this fact since I was a small boy, for I had an uncle who emi- 
grated from Carrick-on-Shannon a few years after and settled 
also in Maryland. My uncle became a preacher and trav- 
elled about six years in the Methodist connection in this 
country. His name was Michael Laird. Moreover, I was 
intimately acquainted with Leonard Strawbridge, brother to 
Eobert, for thirty or forty years. He often stopped at my 
father's house, and also at my house after my father's decease. 
It was in the year 1758 or 1759 that the Methodist preachers 
first visited our neighborhood, and I think our family and 
the Messrs. Strawbridge were of the first members. This 
was twelve years before I was born." * 

I observe that in this passage Mr. Laird does not say 
anything about the time of the emigration of Mr. Strawbridge. 
The following points in his statement should be specially 
noted : (1) That the Methodist preachers first came into 
Strawbridge's neighborhood — Drummersnave — in 1758 or 
1759. The first known record of a Methodist preacher being 
at Drummersnave is in Wesley's " Journal," May 25, 1758. 
Wesley, who was then there, does not say that a society ex- 
isted in the place at that time, nor does he even say that he 
preached there. Laird does not say that a society was formed 
in 1758 or 1759, but only that the preachers then first ap- 
peared there. 

The next notice that we have of Drummersnave is in Wes- 
ley's " Journal," June, 1760. Mr. Wesley says that " almost 
the whole town, Protestants and Papists, were present at the 
sermon in the evening, and a great part of them in the morn- 

* Letter of Michael Laird, dated July 17, 1844, and published in the New York 
Christian Advocate July 31, 1844. Drummersnave is now called Drumsna. 



TIME OF STRAWBRIDGE'S EMIGRATION 



27 



ing, but O, how few of them will bear fruit unto perfection." 
At this visit to the village he met with atrocious persecution. 
He does not even yet speak of a society as existing there. It 
is not certain that there was a Methodist society in Drum- 
mersnave in the middle of the year 1760, but it is certain that 
one could not have been established there very long before 
that time. (2) Mr. Laird says : " I think our family and the 
Messrs. Strawbridge were of the first members." So he 
thought, but he does not appear to have known. Even if 
Strawbridge had been th.e first individual that joined the class, 
of which there is no proof, it would not therefore be certain 
that the event occurred before 1760, as it is not known that a 
society was formed at Drummersnave prior to, or even as 
early as, that year. The dogmatic assertion that "Straw- 
bridge came to America in 1760," which Dr. Roberts made 
apparently upon the authority of something which Michael 
Laird wrote, is not sustained by the explicit statements of the 
same Michael Laird as reproduced above. 

(3) The assertion that Strawbridge came to America in 
1760 is also in conflict with the conclusions of authoritative 
Irish students of this question. Dr. Abel Stevens declares 
that John Shillington is " the best Irish authority in the 
Methodist history and antiquities of his country." * Now, Mr. 
Shillington states that Strawbridge's emigration was "not 
earlier than 1764." Dr. Hamilton, in the Methodist Quarterly 
Revieio in 1856, said absolutely that Strawbridge came to 
America in 1759 or 1760, but he was afterward so impressed by 
Shillington's facts as set forth in a letter then in the hands 
of Dr. Abel Stevens, that he wrote to the latter acknowledging 
that "after all Mr. S. [Shillington] may be right." By this 
admission Hamilton surrendered his claim to an earlier date 
than 1764 

An Irish authority of high repute, and who probably has 
ascertained about all that can be known concerning the his- 
tory of Strawbridge in Ireland, is the Rev. William Crook. 
In his work entitled "Ireland and the Centenary of American 
Methodism " (page 154), Mr. Crook relates Strawbridge's his- 

* Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. I., p. 72. 



28 THE WESLEY AN" MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

tory in Ireland as follows : " Shortly after Strawbridge em- 
braced Methodism he encountered violent persecution from 
his neighbors and immediate friends, so that he was obliged 
to leave Drumsna [Drummersnave] and take refuge in Sligo, 
where he joined the society and where he manifested much of 
that zeal which afterward distinguished him. I suppose him 
to have found a home in Sligo about the year 1761. The next 
glimpse we get of him is in the County Cavan, where we hear 
of his having frequently preached at Kilmore. About the year 
1763 or 1764 he removed to Tandragee, where he was employed 
for some time in erecting some buildings convenient to the 
town. He made Terry hugan, which "Wesley denominates ' the 
mother church of these parts ' his headquarters, and resided 
in an humble cottage amongst the hearty Wesleyans of this 
favored locality. From Terryhugan as a centre he itinerated 
through the neighboring country, where his labors were highly 
prized, and where his name and memory were cherished by all 
who knew him. About the year 1764 or 1765 he married one of 
the worthy, devoted Wesleyans of Terryhugan — a Miss Piper 
— and shortly after, probably in 1766, with his young wife, 
bade farewell to Ireland, to find, like Embury and Williams, 
a grave in the New World." 

Mr. Crook does not profess to have secured precise dates 
of these events. Tradition was his only guide, and he knew 
its liability to err. "In the case of Strawbridge," he says, "we 
have little or no reliable dates, and no documents illustrative 
of his life previous to his emigration. We can only then 
spell out our way by comparing one date with another, and 
can only hope to be approximately correct." In assigning 
the emigration of Strawbridge to about 1766, Mr. Crook says : 
" I do not give these figures dogmatically, but merely as the 
nearest approach I can make to the true date. I am aware 
that many high authorities on the other side of the Atlantic 
have claimed a much earlier date for Strawbridge and Meth- 
odism in Maryland. I have read all the documents by Dr. 
Roberts, Dr. Hamilton, etc., and have seen no proof as yet 
that Strawbridge left Ireland before 1766." In this Crook has 
corroboration in George Bourne, of Baltimore, who, as we 



STRAWBRIDGE IN IRELAND 



29 



shall see, " after the most accurate research," declared his belief 
that Strawbridge's society in Maryland was younger than 
Embury's by "nine or twelve months at least." According to 
this, the society in Maryland was formed, say in 1767. As to 
Strawbridge's alleged antecedence, Mr. Crook says : "In the 
case of New York and Embury, we have documentary evi- 
dence that the society was formed in 1766. About that there 
can be no dispute ; while in relation to Maryland and Straw- 
bridge, we have no documents whatever that can be called re- 
liable, and I think it is impossible to prove that Strawbridge 
left Ireland before 1766." * 

(4) While the testimony published by Michael Laird in 
1844 affords no proof that Robert Strawbridge was a member 
of a Methodist society before 1760, the researches of Shilling- 
ton and Crook have shown that, after his union with the 
Methodists, he had a period of ministerial activity in Ireland. 
He became a local preacher, and it is certain that as such he 
travelled in several localities in his native Erin. While thus 
preaching, he, like Embury, wrought at the craft of a house- 
builder. In the course of this period he married. All this, 
obviously, involved time. He probably did not preach until 
some time after he joined the Wesley ans. His career as a 
Methodist preacher in Ireland could not have been achieved 
in a day. In all this we see the groundlessness of Dr. Rob- 
erts's unqualified declaration that " Mr. Strawbridge came to 
America in 1760, with. Ms wife and children." If Roberts erred 
in this particular, it is reasonable to infer that he possibly 
deviated from the straight line of accuracy in other statements. 

II. In calling Michael Laird as a witness Dr. Roberts 
failed to indicate that he was an Irishman, but said that he 
" obtained his knowledge of these points from his father who 
was intimate with Mr. Strawbridge and fully conversant with 
the truth of what is stated in his letter." When I read this 
passage I understood by it that the elder Laird was associated 
with Strawbridge in Maryland. When subsequently I came 
to read the letter of Michael Laird of July, 1844, I saw that 
the elder Laird lived in Ireland and never saw America. 

* Ireland and the Centennary of American Methodism. 



30 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



It is obvious, then, that neither Michael Laird nor his 
father was with Strawbridge in Maryland. Whatever they 
may have known about him during his residence in this 
country must have been obtained otherwise than from per- 
sonal association with him. Strawbridge emigrated before 
Michael Laird existed, and whatever Michael's father may 
have told him about the date of that migration was probably 
derived from memory, and it is likely that Michael repeated 
it from memory. 

III. Apparently upon Michael Laird's authority Dr. Rob- 
erts says that Strawbridge, " immediately after arranging 
his dwelling opened it for divine service," and that his " ef- 
forts soon after resulted in the awakening and conversion of 
several who attended ; " but he does not say that a society 
was formed immediately. A question which is necessarily 
left undetermined is, How long was the interval between the 
arrival of Robert Strawbridge and the formation of the first 
Wesleyan class in Maryland ? In that wilderness region, 
with all his new adjustments to make, his livelihood to pro- 
cure, and with but few and scattered neighbors, who were ig- 
norant of Methodism, it may be assumed with reason that 
some time elapsed before the immigrant preacher advanced 
in his evangelical work to the degree of constituting a Method- 
ist society. As to when that result was achieved by him is 
a different question from that of when he reached Maryland. 
Strawbridge might have been there a year or two at least, en- 
gaged in securing the location and settlement of his family 
and providing subsistence for them, forming an acquaint- 
ance with the country and its rustic inhabitants, and con- 
versing and preaching as opportunity allowed, before he 
could gather converts into a society. 

The other portion of Dr. Roberts's case is the Maynard 
tradition, which the Rev. William Fort, of Maryland, pub- 
lished in the New York Christian Advocate, July 10, 1844. 
Mr. Fort says : " As early as 1762 or 1763, Strawbridge was 
not only preaching but baptizing in Frederick County. He 
had an appointment regularly at John Maynard's, who was 
then a Methodist, and at one of these appointments, in 17G2 



BAPTISM OF YOUNG MAYNAED 



31 



or 1763, he baptized Henry Maynard, who died in 1837." 
Fort cites no word from any authority in support of these 
statements. Like Roberts with the Laird tradition, he does 
not permit his witness to appear and testify. 

In approaching the Maynard tradition Dr. Roberts says : 
" In another communication I ascertain that Henry Maynard 
was baptized (by Robert Strawbridge) when he was but six 
or seven years old. Henry Maynard died in 1837, aged 
eighty-one years. This renders it positive that Mr. Straw- 
bridge had been engaged in preaching regularly prior to 
1762." 

This last sentence seems to show reckless reckoning. 
" This " does not " render it positive" upon Dr. Roberts's own 
showing, "that Mr. Strawbridge had been preaching regu- 
larly " in Maryland " prior to 1762." Granting for the mo- 
ment what Roberts asserts, namely, that " Henry Maynard was 
baptized when he was but six or seven years old," and that 
he " died in 1837, aged eighty-one years," we are brought 
by correct computation from these data to the year 1763 as 
authoritatively as to 1762. Yet ignoring this plain fact, Rob- 
erts declares that it is hereby made certain that Strawbridge 
preached in Maryland in 1762. Fort did not calculate so 
loosely, but said that Strawbridge " in 1762 or 1763 baptized 
Henry Maynard." 

The age of the boy at the time it is claimed that the Irish 
local preacher baptized him is uncertain. Dr. Roberts does 
not say that he was then six or that he was seven years old, 
but that " he was but six or seven." That is to say, we do 
not know, as our narrator obviously did not know, just how 
old this subject of baptism was, when, " at a spring," he re- 
ceived the sacred rite. 

Whence did Dr. Roberts derive these alleged facts? 
From whom did Mr. Fort receive the story ? We do not 
know. Neither Fort nor Roberts indicates the character of 
the authority upon which their assertions herein are based. 
Dr. Roberts merely says : " From another communication I 
ascertain that Henry Maynard was baptized (by Mr. Straw- 
bridge) when he was but six or seven years old." Who was 



32 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



the author of that " communication ? " Or was it like the 
Evans document in this case, unsigned ? Was the " com- 
munication " written at or soon after the time of the baptism, 
or was it written long after the event, when the writer's mem- 
ory was dimmed by age ? We cannot tell. Was the author 
of the communication a person of clear intelligence, sound 
memory, and perfect reliability? We know not. We only 
know that the writer had not definite knowledge of the boy's 
age at the time he was baptized, or he would not have said 
that " he was but six or seven years old." 

At what age, in Strawbridge's view, a child ceased to be a 
proper subject of infant baptism, is uncertain. He did not 
submit to ecclesiastical authority in administering the sacra- 
ments. There is no evidence that he ever received ordina- 
tion. Therefore he was a law unto himself. If he deemed it 
right to baptize a child of six or seven years as an infant, he 
might have believed himself justified in baptizing one as such 
who had come to the age of ten or more years. In a leading 
Methodist journal — the Nashville Christian Advocate of July 
21, 1892 — a correspondent inquires, "Should children twelve 
years old receive infant baptism ? " The editor answers : 
" We doubt whether in any case it should be done." But 
suppose Strawbridge did not so doubt. The baptism itself 
proves nothing as to Maynard's age at the time when he re- 
ceived it. 

Maynard, though but a boy, may have been a professed 
believer, and Roberts says nothing to the contrary, nor does 
Fort. If he was baptized as a believer, he may have been at 
the time of the event more than six or seven or even twelve 
years old. We are warranted in stating these questions be- 
cause we have no knowledge of the character of the " commu- 
nication " from which the story of Maynard is derived, nor 
of the trustworthiness of the memory, or of the veracity, of 
the person who related it. 

In all of the contention in behalf of the alleged antece- 
dence of Strawbridge there is a want of the certainty which 
can be derived only from primitive, authentic, and dated 
documents. The case rests wholly upon tradition. No doc- 



INACCURACY OF TRADITION 



33 



urnents dated within three or four decades of the origin of 
Strawbridge's society have been produced to prove its chron- 
ological precedence. The fickleness and treachery of the 
human memory is proverbial, and renders tradition somewhat 
unreliable at best, and especially when it is not corroborated 
by trustworthy records. We are indeed obliged to receive 
much historical data from tradition, because in numerous 
cases it is our only guide. But when, as in this case, we have 
dates that are established by authenticated writings on the 
one hand, and only tradition on the other, we cannot allow 
tradition, which is but hearsay, to discredit the evidence of 
primitive, authentic, unim peached, and incontrovertible rec- 
ords. Tradition, while reliable in its main outlines, is com- 
monly uncertain as to particular facts. This arises from the 
liability to misapprehension by those who from time to time 
receive it, and to the changed form which it inevitably as- 
sumes in passing from lip to lip through a lengthened period. 
Imperfection of memory in those who transmit a story orally, 
through a generation or two, always impairs its integrity. 
Tradition is sadly prone to mix error and truth so as to con- 
fuse, and even partially discredit, the latter. This, as former 
pages show, is true of the Maryland traditions ; and there- 
fore we may not accept an earlier date of the commencement 
of Strawbridge's ministry in that province than can be vindi- 
cated by authoritative documentary evidence. 



CHAPTEK II. 



TESTIMONIES FROM PRIMITIVE SOURCES CONCERNING THE BE- 
GINNING OF THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA. 

Having examined what has been set forth in behalf of an 
alleged earlier origin of the Wesleyan movement in this 
country than that which has commonly been received, I shall 
now proceed to produce evidence to prove the three follow- 
ing propositions : First, that there is sufficient ground for the 
assumption that neither Robert Strawbridge nor his wife, 
who came with him to America and who survived him many 
years — certainly above a decade — ever claimed that his min- 
istry at Pipe Creek began before Embury entered upon his 
evangelical labors in New York. Second, that one of the 
earliest ministerial contemporaries of Strawbridge here has 
shown that the Methodist Society formed in New York in 
1766 was antecedent to that in Maryland ; and third, that 
the uniform testimony of the fathers of Methodism in this 
land is to the chronological precedence of the work of Philip 
Embury in the city of New York. 

The Rev. William Colbert was a native of Maryland, and 
a leader in the field when Methodism here was young. He 
was an able, laborious, and successful itinerant, and a con- 
temporary of several of the earliest Methodists of Maryland. 
He was an early colleague and cherished friend of Henry 
Boehm, one of the travelling companions of Bishop Asbury 
and the centenarian of the Methodist Episcopal Church. I 
well remember in my association with the venerable Boehm 
with what affectionate interest he would recur to his minis- 
terial intercourse with Colbert. He pronounced him " a 
sound divine and a great revivalist." I have carefully exam- 
ined Colbert's manuscript diary, and it evinces the intelli- 



COLBERT VISITS MRS. STRAWBRIDGE 



35 



gence, activity, and force which he displayed in his fine min- 
isterial career. 

Now Mr. Colbert personally knew Mrs. Strawbridge. He 
visited her at least once. It was in 1792. At that time he 
must have been familiar with the historical sketch of Meth- 
odism published in the successive editions of the Discipline 
of his Church, and also he must have noted that it seems to 
accord the priority to Embury. Prior to that visit probably 
he had read in the Disciplinary sketch of 1791 that Em- 
bury formed his society in 1766. He was then laboring in 
Harford Circuit, a field that had been consecrated by the 
toils and achievements of Eobert Strawbridge, and no doubt 
he held friendly conversations with various persons who knew 
that evangelist in the early days of his American ministry. 
A man so mentally bright as Colbert, and so zealous in the 
Methodist cause, in visiting the widow of the Wesleyan 
pioneer of Maryland probably would converse with her 
about her departed companion and his work. Such con- 
versation, one would think, would naturally revert to the 
question of priority, and especially so if Mrs. Strawbridge 
had knowledge that to her husband it belonged. If he orig- 
inated Methodism in America she had good opportunities to 
know it. Robert Strawbridge knew Robert Williams, the 
first Wesleyan preacher that came hither after Methodism 
rose here, and who, in his early American itinerancy al- 
ternated between New York, and Maryland. In New York 
Williams was a coadjutor of Embury ; in Maryland, of Straw- 
bridge. Captain Webb was Embury's great helper in New 
York and he also labored in Maryland. Richard Boardman 
was in New York with Embury, and he was in Maryland as 
early as 1772.* Joseph Pilmoor was much in New York as 
one of Wesley's first missionaries, and we know, too, that he 
and Strawbridge were together in Philadelphia, and that in 
1772 he travelled in the latter 's field. Thus, in the first 
years of the American work, there was much intercourse 
between the Methodists of New York and those of Maryland 
through the preachers who toiled in both provinces. What 

* Asbury's Journal, vol. i., p. 57. 

4 



36 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



more natural than that in both fields those preachers should 
converse about the Wesleyan movement in the land and 
of the place and time of its origin. Indeed, it is possible 
that Strawbridge was in New York and in personal inter- 
course with Embury, as he visited Philadelphia in the begin- 
ning of 1770, a fact which hitherto has not received public 
historical record. If he formed the first society on this con- 
tinent, he, under these conditions, could scarcely have avoided 
knowing it, and in that case, others, through him, would have 
known it, especially Mrs. Strawbridge. Cherishing the mem- 
ory of her husband, as no doubt she did, would she not have 
been ready to speak of a fact which, if known, would gild his 
name with unfading lustre ? Would she not have been apt 
to refer to an event so illustrious in his ministry in her con- 
versations with Methodist preachers, when the work he be- 
gan had grown into a considerable and an increasing church ? 

After his visit to Mrs. Strawbridge, Colbert took up his 
pen and under the date of February 24, 1792, he wrote in 
his diary these words : " Visited Sister Strawbridge, the 
widow of one of the first Methodist preachers that appeared 
in America." 

This is all that William Colbert saw fit to record concern- 
ing what may be called a historic interview over a hundred 
years ago. That brief record my eyes have scanned where 
his long-vanished hand traced it in ink. He wrote, as prob- 
ably he preached, with pertinence and terseness. He put 
all he had to say of his visit with Mrs. Strawbridge into a 
sentence of sixteen significant words which bear strongly 
upon the question of priority. If she believed that her hus- 
band formed the first society in America would not her 
pastoral visitor, who was then laboring in the field where 
he toiled, have been likely to hear it from her lips? If 
Colbert had learned from Strawbridge's contemporaries and 
spiritual children that he himself knew of his antecedence to 
Embury, would not Colbert, in his conversation with Mrs. 
Strawbridge, probably have referred to an event so hon- 
orable to the name and so conducive to the fame of her 
sainted companion? And in that case would not the record 



THE BROWN FAMILY AND STRAWBRIDGE 37 

in his diary probably have been something like this : Visited 
Sister Straw bridge, the widow of the fiest Methodist preacher 
that appeared in America? Would not Mr. Colbert have 
felt honored in recording such a fact ? Instead of doing 
this, however, he simply wrote this lucid sentence : " Visited 
Sister Strawbridge, the widow of one of the first Methodist 
preachers that appeared in America." This sentence by Col- 
bert is probably the only word extant which appears to have 
emanated from the Strawbridge household ; and it does not 
uphold the claim that Strawbridge's society was antecedent 
to Embury's. 

The Rev. George Brown, D.D., was an eminent minister 
and a presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church and 
afterward entered the ministry of the Methodist Protestant 
Church. He joined the itinerancy from Baltimore in 1815, 
and his first circuit was Anne Arundel, in Western Maryland, 
and in the region where Strawbridge labored. His grand- 
father settled at Pipe Creek long before the days of Straw- 
bridge, and there his father lived through the period of Straw- 
bridge's career in America. Dr. Brown was above nineteen 
years of age at his father's death, and therefore had good op- 
portunity to learn from him facts concerning early Method- 
ism at Pipe Creek. On this subject he, in his "Recollections 
of Itinerant Life," says : " My father, from the days of Rob- 
ert Strawbridge to the day of his death, had been a con- 
sistent member of the Methodist Church. My father and 
mother belonged to the first class of Methodists ever formed 
in Maryland. It was organized by Robert Strawbridge." 
Brown here only claims that Strawbridge's society was the 
first in Maryland. He does not intimate that it was the first 
in America. His parents were neighbors of Mr. and Mrs. 
Strawbridge as well as members of the society, and if ante- 
cedence to Embury was claimed by them it would seem that 
the Brown family should have heard of it. 

I shall, in the second place, proceed to show that almost 
the earliest ministerial contemporary of Robert Strawbridge 
in this country accorded the priority to the movement in 
New York. 



38 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IjST AMERICA 



Joseph Pilinoor landed in New Jersey, October 21, 1769, 
and entered upon the work which Mr. Wesley sent him to 
do. Within three months thereafter he became acquainted 
with Robert Strawbridge in Philadelphia, as his Journal 
attests. Having come so recently to the country to toil in 
and for the Wesleyan cause Pilmoor, with his intelligence 
and mental alertness, would, one would suppose, have sought 
to obtain from Strawbridge information as to how long and to 
what extent he had labored for the same cause in the Mary- 
land wilderness. Here, too, in the fall of 1769 and later, Pil- 
moor was in close association with Captain Webb, who also 
seems to have known Strawbridge at this time, and who was 
with Embury in New York soon after he formed his society. 
Mr. Pilmoor, therefore, had opportunity to ascertain what 
certainly he must have wished to know, namely, whether the 
Wesleyan movement in this continent began in New York or 
in Maryland. 

I have just said that Captain Webb appears to have 
known Strawbridge at that early day. The authority for 
this statement is Mr. Pilmoor, who in his Journal, under the 
date of November 4, 1769, refers to the captain's arrival in 
Philadelphia from Wilmington with a report of success " in 
turning men from darkness unto light." He adds: "The 
work of God begun by him and Mr. Strawbridge, a local 
preacher from Ireland, soon spread through the greater part 
of Baltimore County and several hundreds of people were 
brought to repentance and turned unto the Lord." It thus 
appears that within four years after the origin of the move- 
ment in New York Pilmoor had knowledge of its existence 
and progress in Maryland, and also had been in personal 
intercourse with both Webb and Strawbridge. He must 
have been strangely indifferent to the history of the cause 
which had been established so recently in the land, and which 
he had crossed the ocean to serve, if in his conversations 
with the founders thereof he failed to become informed con- 
cerning the place and time of its origin. 

We are warranted, then, in assuming that Pilmoor early 
learned whether Methodism in this country began in Mary- 



pilmoor's testimony 



39 



land or in New York. On this point he delivers important 
testimony. This is what in his Journal he says about it : 

" The work of God, which has so wonderfully spread in a 
few years through most parts of Great Britain and Ireland, 
lately reached across the Atlantic Ocean. This was brought 
about by means of several poor people that had been in com- 
munion with the Methodists in Europe who went to settle 
in that country. After some time they were joined by Mr. 
William Lupton, a gentleman of considerable property in 
New York, and not long after by Mr. Thomas Webb, who 
became a preacher among them and helped them much. As 
they met with great encouragement and found the people of 
New York very desirous of hearing, they resolved to build a 
chapel and did all in their power to promote the work." 

Pilmoor here ascribes the origin of the Wesley an move- 
ment on this side of the sea to " several poor people " who 
came hither to settle. Who were they? The answer is 
given in an account of themselves which they related to the 
Honorable Robert Monkton, Governor of New York, in a 
petition which they addressed to him February 1, 1763, and 
which is still preserved in the archives of that common- 
wealth. They said : 

" All your petitioners except William Folk, are natives of 
the kingdom of Ireland, and all of the established Church of 
England, and before their departure thence they formed a 
scheme of settling in this country. Eight of your petitioners 
being bred to the business of the linen and hempen manu- 
facture in every branch thereof, they proposed to use their 
best endeavors toward the introduction and promotion of 
that branch in such place as they should find encouragement 
to settle in for this purpose. Before their departure from 
the said kingdom they formed themselves into a company, 
and about two years and a half ago arrived in this province. 
Soon after their arrival they made application to the Honor- 
able Cadwallader Colclen, Esq., then Commander-in-chief of 



40 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



this province, with a view of obtaining a tract of land to form 
a settlement on for the purpose aforesaid, but by reason of 
their ignorance of the situation of this province and of their 
not being able to find out where any vacant land lay, your 
petitioners were at that time disappointed in their expecta- 
tions of obtaining such grant. 

" Your petitioners have ever since used their utmost en- 
deavors to find out a tract of land whereon they could form a 
settlement ; for by their continual residence in this city of 
New York, where they were obliged to remain in order to 
support themselves and their families, they were deprived of 
such a knowledge of the interior parts of this province as 
would enable them to proceed with certainty toward the ob- 
taining of a grant of lands proper for their settlement. De- 
spairing of coming at the knowledge of such tract they were 
under the necessity of causing an advertisement to be in- 
serted in one of the public newspapers of this colony, signi- 
fying that they wanted such a tract of land for their settle- 
ment, in pursuance of which they have since received several 
proposals to purchase several tracts of land, none of which on 
the terms proposed to them they could comply with without 
depriving themselves of a probability of being able to carry 
on the branch of manufacture as first intended. Upon the 
encouragement your Excellency was pleased to give to some 
of your petitioners they have at length found that there is a 
tract of land fit for their settlement which is vested in the 
Crown and is situate, lying and being in the County of 
Albany to the westward of the patent of Queensbury lately 
granted to Daniel Prindle and others on both sides of a 
branch of Hudson's river which runneth northwardly ; 
bounded northerly by vacant lands and lands which are pe- 
titioned for, and southerly by Hudson's river. Said tract of 
land your petitioners are desirous of obtaining in the quan- 
tity of twenty -five thousand acres in order to cultivate and 
improve the same, and whereon they would engage to form 
an immediate settlement ; which settlement they purpose 
should be as soon as possible after a grant may be obtained ; 
which settlement they purpose should consist not only of 



EMBURY OBTAINS A GRANT OF LAND 



41 



themselves and their families, but likewise of many other 
persons — their friends in the said kingdom of Ireland whom 
they have the greatest reason to think would immediately 
remove hither provided your petitioners were able to accom- 
modate them with a competent part of the said lands of their 
settlement. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that 
your Excellency will be favorably pleased by his Majesty's 
letters-patent to grant unto your petitioners respectively, and 
to their respective heirs and assigns, the quantity of one 
thousand acres of the tract of land above described under 
such quit-rent provisos and restrictions as are contained in 
his Majesty's instructions." 

This aged document, which antedates by three years the 
beginning of Methodism in America, bears the signatures of 
Philip Embury, John Embury, David Embury, Peter Em- 
bury, Paul Heck, Jacob Dulmidge, Sen., Jacob Dulmidge, 
Jr., Valentine Dettler, William Folk, Edward Carscallen, and 
fifteen others. " A committee of his Majesty's Council, at 
Fort George, in the city of New York," on May 12, 1763, rec- 
ommended to the Governor that a grant of four hundred acres 
should be made to each of these twenty-five petitioners in 
case they gave security to the satisfaction of his Excellency 
that they would settle twenty-five families thereon within 
three years after the date of the grant. Finding, however, 
that the lands were not suited to their purpose, some of 
them petitioned for another grant, which was accorded to 
them on March 13, 1765, comprising eight thousand acres. 
The legal record of the conveyance of this land to Philip 
Embury, Peter Embury, James Wilson, John Wilson, George 
Wilson, Moses Cowen, and Thomas Porter is dated the 31st 
of October, 1765. 

It is apparent that in this company of Irish emigrants 
were the " several poor people " who Pilmoor says extended 
the " work of God " known as Methodism over the sea. They 
were joined by William Lupton he declares, a man " of con- 
siderable property in New York, and not long after by 
Thomas Webb. They found the people of New York very 



42 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

desirous of hearing. They resolved to build a chapel and 
did all in their power to promote the work." Such is Pil- 
moor's testimony to the priority of New York. 

In the third and last place I will show that the earliest 
documentary and oral testimony of the fathers of Method- 
ism in this country was in favor of the antecedence of the 
New York society. 

We have just seen that Pilmoor, who knew Strawbridge 
and was closely associated with Captain Webb two years 
before Asbury came hither ; Avho as pastor had intimate 
knowledge of the society in New York four years after Em- 
bury formed it, and who labored in Strawbridge's field in 
1772 ; Pilmoor, with all these opportunities for getting ac- 
curate knowledge, states that Methodism was projected over 
"the Atlantic Ocean" by means of "several poor people" 
who planted it in New York. 

William Watters was an early Methodist convert in Mary- 
land, entered the itinerancy in 1772, and was familiar with 
the history of the movement in that province. In his " Auto- 
biography " (p. 109) he says : " Richard Owen was awakened 
under the preaching of Robert Strawbridge, who with one 
more, Philip Embury, were the first Methodist preachers in 
America." If Strawbridge was first in this field Watters 
should have known it. Had he known it probably he would 
have mentioned it here. 

William Colbert, fresh from an interview with Mrs. Straw- 
bridge, testified to the same purport by writing of her hus- 
band in his diary, not as the first, but as " one of the first 
Methodist preachers that appeared in America." 

Freeborn Garrettson first met the Methodist preachers in 
Maryland when he was seventeen years old, as he informs us 
in his "Experience and Travels," which was published in 
1791, and also in his Semi-Centennial Sermon preached 
before the New Y T ork Conference, May, 1826. Therefore 
his first contact with them was in 1769, or at the latest 
1770, as he became seventeen in August, 1769. Garretson 
grew to manhood in Baltimore County, entered the ministry 
in 1776, and his first field of labor was Frederick Circuit, 



gaerettson's testimony 



43 



within which was Pipe Creek. He knew Strawbriclge, and 
was familiar, too, with the first Methodists of Maryland. In 
his " Semi-Centennial Sermon " Garrettson says that Embury 
preceded Strawbridge. He refers to the society in New York, 
which he says was founded in 1766 ; adverts to the build- 
ing of the chapel in John Street, and then he declares : 
" Some time after this, Mr. Strawbridge, a local preacher from 
Ireland, settled at a place called Pipe Creek, in Maryland, 
where he began to preach, formed a society, and built a log 
meeting-house." 

In the Discipline of his Church in 1787, and later, Bishop 
Asbury put Embury before Strawbridge, saying that the latter 
settled in Maryland about the time the former began preach- 
ing in New York ; and Ezekiel Cooper, in a funeral sermon 
on Asbury which he preached in Philadelphia in 1816, and 
also published in a volume, said: "In New York, where the 
first society was formed by Philip Embury." Cooper was 
a native of Maryland and was intimately associated with the 
bishop for thirty years. We have already seen and dwelt at 
length upon the testimony of Jesse Lee, a contemporary of 
Cooper, and a chief figure in the Methodist drama here for a 
third of a century, and who with his pen strongly and repeat- 
edly asserted Embury's precedence. The Rev. Manton Thrift, 
a preacher of the Virginia Conference, which he joined in 
1812, in his "Biography of Lee " (page 11), says that Method- 
ism in America " began in the city of New York." 

The Rev. Henry Boehm, who travelled over the country 
with Bishop Asbury five years and was his chosen executor, 
a Methodist patriarch from whom I personally heard much 
about early Methodism, and by whose side I stood as his 
amanuensis and spokesman for the occasion, on his hundredth 
birthday, June 8, 1875, in Trinity Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Jersey City, before a crowded auditory ; — Mr. Boehm 
bore testimony to the priority of the society formed by Em- 
bury in New York. In a letter from his hand, dated Novem- 
ber 13, 1857, to the Rev. J. B. Wakeley, and which was 
printed in " Lost Chapters," he said : " I am now in my eighty- 
third year. I heard Robert Strawbridge preach at my father's 



44 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



house in 1779. I entered the travelling connection in 1801, 
and my first field of labor was in Maryland. I travelled with 
Bishop Asbury for five years — from 1808 to 1813. During 
that time I was with Bishop Asbury through Maryland several 
times, and at Pipe Creek. I also saw the old Log Meeting- 
House in 1808, which had been converted into a barn. 
Though travelling through Maryland so frequently, and con- 
versing with the old preachers and the members of the church, 
I never heard any claim that Methodism in Maryland was 
earlier than in New York. No one ever hinted it in my pres- 
ence. It was universally admitted that Methodism in New 
York had the priority." 

In almost daily association with Bishop Asbury for five 
years one would think that if he had held the belief of the 
priority of Strawbridge Mr. Boehm would have heard it. 

In accordance with these statements of the venerable 
Boehm is the testimony of Mr. George Bourne. George 
Bourne was a proprietor of a newspaper called the Baltimore 
Evening Post and Mercantile Daily Advertiser * and in 1807 
he published a Life of Mr. Wesley. To that work, which 
comprises an octavo volume, he appended a " Comprehensive 
History of American Methodism," which, with the exception of 
that issued with the Discipline in 1787-1792 inclusive, is the 
earliest account of the denomination printed in this country 
of which I have knowledge. It was three years earlier than 
Lee's " History of the Methodists," and, like it, it came 
forth from Baltimore. The question even then was in some 
quarters considered whether the society in New York or in 
Maryland was formed first. Mr. Bourne investigated this 
question. Sources of information were then accessible that 
were both primitive and authoritative. John Evans, the 
alleged time of whose conversion under Strawbridge I have 
already discussed in these pages, and who undoubtedly was 
one of the early Methodist converts at Pipe Creek, was then 
living and could be consulted in person or in writing. In- 
deed Mr. Evans lived until February 13, 1827, as the inscrip- 
tion on his gravestone attests. Henry Maynard, too, was 

* Scharf 's Chronicles of Baltimore, p. 88. 



bourne's important testimony 



45 



living then. Numerous other witnesses, of both the ministry 
and laity, who were familiar with the facts relating to the 
origin of Methodism in Maryland were then here to testify 
concerning them. Surely that was a very favorable time for 
securing data by which to determine this question. Mr. 
Bourne improved his opportunity. The result he gave in 
1807 in his " History of American Methodism " as follows : 
"It has long been a question with the curious who are anx- 
ious to know every circumstance connected with the com- 
mencement of Methodism in the United States, whether the 
first society was established in Maryland or New York. 
After the most accurate research the information I have pro- 
cured induces me to believe that a Methodist Society was 
formed at New York at least nine or twelve months previous 
to the first that was collected by Mr. Strawbridge." * Thus 
this early historian in Maryland concedes to Embury the 
priority. Bourne and Jesse Lee herein perfectly agree. 

Mrs. Dulinage, the mother of Mrs. Kev. Samuel Coate, 
died in Canada in the winter of 1809-10. Coate was a pastor 
in Baltimore from 1802 to 1804. In a letter to the Bev. Joseph 
Benson, published in the London Methodist 3Iagazine, Coate 
described Mrs. Dunnage's triumphant death, and says : " She 
was a sister of the first Methodist who ever received meetings 
into his house in New York (Philip Embury) or in America." 

The second John Street Church in New York was dedi- 
cated January 4, 1818. Nathan Bangs preached on that oc- 
casion. In his sermon was the following utterance : " The 
first Methodist Society was formed in this city (which indeed 
was the first in America) in the year 1766." Dr. Bangs has 
elsewhere told us that when this sermon was preached in 
John Street, Hannah Dean Hick, who was a member of that 
society before Boardman and Pilmoor reached these shores, 
was still there. Other primitive New York Methodists were 
then there. Asbury, who for four and forty years was so much 
among his friends in New York, had been in his grave less 

* The Life of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., with Memoirs of the Wesley Family, to 
which are subjoined Dr. Whitehead's Funeral Sermon, and a Comprehensive History 
of American Methodism. By George Bourne. Baltimore, 1807, p. o'2'2. 



46 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



than two years. Yet on this great day of dedication, when 
the occupants of the latter temple were necessarily led to 
think of the former and humbler temple and its first wor- 
shippers, the fact that the society which Embury formed was 
the first in America appears to have been unclouded by a 
doubt. If Asbury believed that the Maryland Methodists 
were antecedent to Embury's society it would seem that he 
had not published it in New York, as he obviously did not 
assert it to his travelling companion, the Kev. Henry Boehm. 
Asbury's close friend, Thomas Morrell, who early labored in 
both New York and Baltimore, accords to Embury the pri- 
ority in his Journal. 

What was the cause of this early and general agreement of 
testimony respecting the historical precedence of the society 
of Embury ? It must have been because from the beginning 
it was well understood that he was in advance of any other 
person in planting Methodism in America. This having been 
confessed wiien the sources of true data were new and easily 
consulted, the unanimity of the testimony thereto followed 
inevitably. Strawbridge lived and preached in this country 
for about fifteen years after the movement begkn, and his 
wife long survived him. Then surely there was no need that 
a mistake should exist among the early American Methodists 
as to the time and the place of the origin of their cause. 

I have thus discussed at length the long-debated question 
concerning when and where Methodism first arose in America. 
It is apparent that there is very little evidence of any kind — 
it might almost be said none whatever — to support the claim 
that Strawbridge's society was the first. On the other hand, 
the proof that New York Methodism was anterior to that at 
Pipe Creek is clear, direct, cumulative, and convincing. A 
succession of impartial witnesses of the highest credibility, 
from the south and from the north, from the time of Straw- 
bridge and Embury to the opening of the second John Street 
Church, unite in establishing this fact. That the Wesleyan 
movement in America began in New York seems indisputable 
in the light of the evidence of tradition and of the earliest 
authoritative documents. 



CHAPTEK III. 



THE HISTORIC GERMAN-IRISH EMIGRATION. 

Philip Embury and a number of other German-Irishmen 
of Ballingran looked toward this broad land, in 1760, as an 
inviting field for a manufacturing industry, which they de- 
signed unitedly to establish. We now come to the pregnant 
event of the sailing of those people from the Irish shore to 
the Western World. 

On a summer day in 1760 a ship lay at a pier in Limer- 
ick, about to sail for New York. It contained a company of 
emigrants, which consisted of Philip Embury and Margaret, 
his wife,* Paul Heck and his wife Barbara, John Embury, 
David Embury, Peter Embury, James Wilson, George Wil- 
son, Samuel Wilson, Henry Lower, Philip Cook, Jacob Dul- 
midge, Sr., Jacob Dulmidge, Jr., Edward Carscallen, Nicho- 
las Shouldes, Peter Shouldes, Julius Shire, Peter Lawrence, 
Henry Shire, Valentine Debtler, Peter Poff, Valentine Shim- 
mel, Peter Sparling, Elias Hoffmann, and probably others. 
Several of these had families. According to an Irish tradi- 
tion some of their friends came for a final leave-taking. Mr. 
Embury had preached to them in their little chapel in Bal- 
lingran, and, as the story goes, he gave them a farewell 
sermon from the ship. Some of them probably were his con- 
verts — seals to his ministry. Doubtless " they sorrowed most 
of all that they should see his face no more." 

The moment of departure came, and Embury, the Hecks, 
and their companions receded from the Irish shore. What 
momentous and eternal interests were involved in that voy- 
age ! They arrived in New York harbor on the tenth or 

* Dr. Abel Stevens gives the Christian name of Mary to Mrs. Embury. In a 
legal document preserved in the archives of New York which bears her signature, 
as executrix of Philip Embury, her name is written Margaret. 



48 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



eleventh day of August, 1760. The New York Mercury of 
Monday, August 18, 1760, contained a notice of the arrival 
of some German-Irish emigrants, of whom, beyond reason- 
able doubt, were the " several poor people," to whom Pil- 
moor declared was due the origin of Methodism in America. 
The Mercury said: " The ship Perry, Captain Hogan, arrived 
here on Monday last, in nine weeks from Limerick, in Ireland, 
with a number of Germans, the fathers of many of them having 
settled there in the year 1710 ; but not having sufficient scope 
in that country chose to try their fortunes in America." 

Embury and some of his companions from Ballingran 
were Methodists. By trade he was a carpenter. As such he 
assisted in building a Methodist chapel at Court Matrix. At 
the Conference held by Mr. "Wesley at Limerick, in 1758, he 
was proposed for the itinerancy and placed on Wesley's list 
of reserves. It does not appear that he was called into the 
itinerant field, yet in the local sphere he continued his minis- 
try. The church of his fathers probably was the Lutheran, 
as his ancestors went to Ireland from the Palatinate, in Ger- 
many, and it has been said that in New York he united with 
the Lutheran Church. But it is stated by him and others, in 
their petition in 1763 to the Governor of New York for 
land, that they were all of the Church of England. He con- 
tinued the worship of God in his family, and no doubt at- 
tended upon religious ordinances. We may suppose that he 
did not lose all interest in the work of preaching, but ap- N 
parently no evidence exists that he preached in New York 
until the year 1766. Then, in the order of the divine Provi- 
dence, he was summoned to act as the humble but immortal 
instrument of projecting the most beneficent and vast relig- 
ious enterprise which has ever risen on this continent. The 
emigration hither of those " poor people " marked an epoch 
in American Christianity. They tarried in the city of New 
York several years, awaiting an opportunity to obtain a suit- 
able location in the country for their contemplated business 
project. During this lengthened delay Mrs. Heck and Mr. 
Embury achieved their illustrious work of founding Methodism 
in what is now the metropolis of the Western Hemisphere. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



BAEBAEA HECK, AND HOW SHE BEGAN THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT 

IN AMEEICA. 

The Wesleyan branch of Protestantism was planted in 
New York by Philip Embury ; but he had lived there above f 
five years before he began the work which has given him a 
deathless fame. How came he, then, after so long a period, 
to enter upon the humble but sublime undertaking which 
has been prolific of results so magnificent and glorious ? 

By an extraordinarily well - attested tradition we learn 
that a godly Wesleyan woman, who was one of the company 
of German-Irish emigrants from Ballingran, who sailed from 
Limerick in 1760, namely, Barbara, wife of Paul Heck, found 
several of her friends playing cards. She stopped their diver- 
sion, and then proceeded to see Embury, and effectually im- 
plored him to preach. In compliance with her entreaty he 
soon preached in his dwelling to five auditors. This was the 
beginning of the Wesleyan movement in New York. 

The story of the way that Embury was incited to preach 
by Mrs. Heck has been preserved with apparently little 
variation from its original form. Its integrity is probably 
less impaired than is common with traditions a century and 
a quarter old. It was publicly related at the dedication 
of the second John Street Church, in New York, on January 
•4, 1818. It was printed in the same year in the dedicatory 
discourse delivered on that day by the Kev. Nathan Bangs. 
Dr. Bangs has elsewhere said that he wrote out the story for 
that occasion as he received it from Mr. Paul Hick and his 
" intelligent wife," Hannah Dean, who was a member of the 
New York society when Embury and Mrs. Heck were there. 



50 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



He states that after he had written it, he read it to Mr. and 
Mrs. Hick, and they pronounced it accurate. Bangs's ac- 
count, as it appears in the Dedicatory Sermon, is as follows : 

" The first Methodist society was formed in this city 
(which, indeed, was the first in America) in the year 1766. 
There are some circumstances connected with the commence- 
ment and progress of this infant society very interesting to 
those who take pleasure in reviewing past events, and com- 
bining in their review the good hand of God. 

" In 1765 it seems there were five emigrants from Ireland, 
who had been members of the Methodist society there, set- 
tled in this city. After their arrival, being among strangers, 
separated from their Christian acquaintance, and not finding 
any spiritual associates here, neglecting also the assembling 
of themselves together, they all except one so far departed 
from God as to be immersed in the pleasures of sin. Among 
their number was Mr. Philip Embury, a local preacher. 
Though he maintained the external character of a Christian 
after his arrival, he nevertheless in great measure lost the 
life of God from his soul. In this melancholy state they re- 
mained until the year following, when another family, for- 
merly connected in Christian fellowship with those already 
mentioned before their departure from Ireland, came over. 
This family brought their piety and zeal with them. Actu- 
ated by an ardent love for the Eedeemer's honor, the mother 
of the last-mentioned family, who was also a true mother in 
Israel, presented herself in the presence of those first men- 
tioned, who were amusing themselves with playing cards, 
took the cards from them, and with holy indignation com- 
mitted them to the flames. She then went to Mr. Embury, 
the local preacher, prostrated herself before him, and en- 
treated him with tears to call a meeting and preach to them, 
admonishing him if he did not comply with her request the 
people would go to hell and God would require their blood 
at his hand. Overcome by her arguments, but not knowing 
how to carry her request into execution for want of adequate 
means, the good man asked, ' Where shall I preach, and to 



BANGS'S ACCOUNT OF MRS. HECK ? S WORK 51 

whom ? We have neither house nor congregation.' She re- 
plied, ' Preach in jour own house, to our own company only.' 
Accordingly they met at an appointed time, six in all, the 
preacher and live hearers. In this way, though their num- 
ber gradually increased, they continued for some time in 
comparative obscurity. 

" The report of a Methodist meeting being established 
soon began to attract attention, and the number of hearers 
increasing, the dwelling-house was not sufficiently large to 
accommodate all who attended. To remedy this defect a 
room in the neighborhood was rented, and the expense paid 
by voluntary contributions." 

I have seen but one of the thin octavo pamphlets con- 
taining this sermon, and that, probably, is almost the only 
copy which has escaped oblivion. 

It will be noticed that Dr. Bangs does not mention the 
name of the heroine of this tradition in the above narrative. 
This seems extraordinary, in view of the fact that he was de- 
scribing the origin of the society which he declared was not 
only the first in New York, but in America, and which had 
now come to a new stage in its progress by the erection and 
dedication of its second house of worship on the old site. 
The story itself is a very striking representation of valorous 
deeds performed in a unique way by a Christian woman, who 
thus displayed an ardent love for souls. The effect, too, of 
her daring exploit was momentous and enduring. Bangs 
that day stood among those who had known her, and to her 
he ascribed the honor of starting the movement which 
brought the church into existence. Why, then, at that sec- 
ond dedication, and amidst the sacred associations and mem- 
ories of John Street, should he have suppressed her name ? 

Bangs is manifestly in error respecting the time of the ar- 
rival in New York of the woman who gave to Embury his 
impulse to preach. He represents her as having arrived 
from Ireland in 1766, whereas she came with the company 
that sailed from Limerick in 1760. 

A living grandson of Barbara Heck personally recited to 

5 



52 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

me, in the John Street Church, in New York, October 27, 1890, 
the tradition, as it is preserved and cherished by her descend- 
ants in Canada, of her sudden dispersion of the card-players 
and her successful appeal to Embury. This grandson, Mr. 
George Heck, is a son of the late Rev. Samuel Heck, and 
was born in 1819. He is a gentleman of intelligence, social 
position and integrity, a member of the Methodist Church of 
Canada, and resides near Prescott, Ontario, where he has lived 
more than threescore and ten years among the kindred of 
his sainted grandmother. This story I recorded as he pro- 
nounced it. It is as follows : 

" I have seen John Lawrence, the husband of Philip Em- 
bury's widow, who, while in New York was employed by 
Paul Heck, probably in a lumber-yard. We do not know 
that Paul Heck was in the lumber business, but think he was. 
John Lawrence was present when Mrs. Heck appeared among 
the card-players and was fond of relating the story of that 
occurrence. I have frequently heard this John Lawrence's 
daughter-in-law, the wife of J ohn Lawrence, second, who was 
the son of Philip Embury's wife by her second husband, re- 
late the story as she received it from her father-in-law, tJie 
John Lawrence who was present when my grandmother, Mrs. 
Barbara Heck, rebuked the card-players. I was present 
when John Lawrence, one of this party, died. I saw him 
die. My eldest sister, Mrs. James Howard, said that she be- 
lieved from her recollection of the story, as told in the family, 
that the company played cards in Barbara Heck's kitchen, 
and that it was there that she found them and gave them a 
reproof. 

"John Lawrence, who was present in the card -party, 
stated to his daughter-in-law, who also was daughter-in-law 
to Mrs. Philip Embury, that when Mrs. Heck came into the 
room where the card-players were she lifted a corner of her 
apron, swept the cards from the table into it with her hand, 
went to the fire, and cast them from her apron into the 
flames. Immediately after this she put on her bonnet and 
went to Philip Embury and said to him : ' Philip, you must 



THE HECK VERSION 53 

preach to us, or we shall all go to hell together, and God will 
require our blood at your hands ! ' 

" ' Where shall I preach ? ' 

" ' Preach in your own house.' 

" ' Who will come to hear me ? ' 

" ' I will come and hear you.' As a result of this appeal 
he began to preach in his own house. The first congregation 
consisted of five hearers and the preacher. The persons who 
composed it were Philip Embury and his wife, Paul and Bar- 
bara Heck, John Lawrence, and Betty, a colored servant of 
Mr. and Mrs. Heck." 

Such was the small and feeble beginning of the movement 
which, from that little gathering of " poor people " in a me- 
chanic's humble home, has swept with varying but victorious 
acceleration over the continent and across the seas ; filling a 
hemisphere with its sanctuaries and its shoutings, and kind- 
ling the radiance of redemption in many heathen lands. A 
young maiden pressed a key and the rocks of Hell Gate, in 
the East River, burst into fragments. An obscure Methodist 
Irishwoman, whose heart was moved by the moral perils of 
her friends and countrymen, by her brave and decisive action 
touched a spring which let loose in America the sin- wrecking 
forces of the Wesleyan revival and shook " the trembling 
gates of Hell." That woman was Barbara Heck, and she has 
been appropriately called " the Mother of American Method- 
ism." Impelled by the spirit within her to dare and to do 
for God, her timely, heroic, and wonderfully fruitful service 
has made her name illustrious ; and to her is fulfilled that 
Scripture which declares, "They that be wise shall shine as 
the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to 
righteousness as the stars forever and ever." 

For about four years after Embury began to preach Mrs. 
Heck continued with the New York Wesleyans. She was a 
conspicuous and effective agent in erecting the first Meth- 
odist chapel in America. There is a tradition, which is not 
incredible, that she collected money for the building fund. 
In the list of contributors to that fund the name of her hus- 



54 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



band — Paul Heck — is prefixed to a subscription of three 
pounds five shillings. In the entire list, comprising not far 
from two hundred and fifty names, there are only sixteen that 
stand for a larger sum. Carroll, in his work on Canadian 
Methodism, namely, "Case and his Cotemporaries," says that 
Mr. and Mrs. Heck " were among the most active promoters 
of the enterprise of erecting the first ' preaching-house ' in 
New York." He adds : " Mr. Heck was one of the original 
trustees and Mrs. Heck whitewashed it with her own hands." 

George Heck told me that his grandparents, Paul and 
Barbara Heck, went from New York City to Camden — or, as 
it is sometimes said, Salem, in the neighborhood of Ash- 
grove — New York, in the year 1770, in company with the 
immortal Philip Embury." Mr. Heck's statement is cor- 
roborated by a Canadian authority, the Kev. John Carroll, 
who, in his work on " Case and his Cotemporaries " (vol. i., 
p. 17), says that " Ashgrove, in the northern part of the State 
[of New York], near Lake Champlain, had been colonized 
largely in 1770 by some emigrants from the original New 
York society, the Hecks and Emburys." Another fact which 
corroborates this tradition of their removal in the above year 
is, that the name of Paul Heck, which occurs several times 
in the volume of primitive records of Methodism in New 
York City, commonly known as " the old Book," appears 
in it for the last time in February, 1770. That volume, which 
was the basis of the Rev. J. B. Wakeley's " Lost Chapters 
Recovered from the Early History of American Method- 
ism," is now, 1892, in the possession of the venerable Dr. 
Joseph Longking, of New York, in a state of excellent pres- 
ervation. Dr. Longking signified to me his purpose to pre- 
sent it to the Methodist Historical Society in the city of New 
York, which, as I am informed, he has since done. 

That the Hecks removed from New York to Camden in 
the first half of the year 1770 is a fact well established. I 
learn from George Heck that his father, Samuel — the young- 
est son of Paul and Barbara Heck — was born at Camden in 

* Ashgrove, Salem, Camden, are all neighborhoods in Camden Valley, New York. 
Either is used to designate Embury's home. 



PAUL HECK m THE ARMY 



55 



1771, and that their youngest child, Nancy, was also born 
there in 1773. 

There the Hecks assisted in founding the Wesleyan cause. 
The first Methodist Society north of the city of New York 
was formed by Philip Embury, at Ashgrove, probably very 
soon after he and his friends settled at Camden in 1770. 
Bishop Asbury, in his Journal, August 22, 1795 (vol. ii., p. 
275), speaks of Ashgrove, " where," he says, "we have a so- 
ciety of about sixty members. They originated with P. Em- 
bury, who left the city of New York when the British preach- 
ers came there." A church was built for this society, as 
the Rev. Dr. Bostwick Hawley informs us, in 1788. When, 
in July, 1789, Freeborn Garrettson visited Ashgrove and 
preached, he found there " many kind friends who," he says, 
" have built us a church." * 

Shortly before the outbreak of the American Revolution 
Paul and Barbara Heck removed from Camden to Montreal. 
There is an erroneous tradition of their removal to Canada 
being due to Paul Heck's capture and escape as a soldier of 
the British army. This story Bishop Merrill, of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, received from Mrs. Heck's grandson, 
John Heck, an elder brother of George Heck. Paul Heck 
was Indeed captured, and he escaped, but did not therefore 
remove to Canada, as he lived there when he joined the army. 

The Rev. Dr. A. W. Cummings was an inmate of the 
family of Barbara Heck's son Samuel, in the summers of 
1824 and 1825, at Mrs. Heck's last homestead, and he says : 
" In 1774 Paul and Barbara Heck, with their five chil- 
dren, Elizabeth, John, and Jacob, born in New York in the 
years 1765, 1767, and 1769, and Samuel and Nancy, born in 
Camden Valley in 1771 and 1773, left their second American 
home and located in Montreal. The only incidents worthy 
of note during their fourteen years' residence in Montreal 
were the marriage of Miss Elizabeth to Mr. Owen Bower, the 
early death of Miss Nancy, the other daughter, and the en- 
listment of Paul Heck in a volunteer corps in the British 
army." 

* The Experience and Travels of Freeborn Garrettson, p. 233. 



56 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



Dr. Cuminirjgs says George Heck "never left home, 
was the executor of his father, has held all his papers and 
those of his grandfather, Paul Heck, also." George Heck, 
on May 24, 1884, wrote : " My grandfather, Paul Heck, did 
join a volunteer corps for one year. His discharge is now 
before me. It bears date, Quebec, August 24, 1778, signed 
by Kobert Leake, General Haldimand, Commander-in-chief." 
George Heck confirms the account of the capture of his 
grandfather, as given upon his elder brother John's author- 
ity by Bishop Merrill, but he says it did not occur while Paul 
Heck was visiting at home. George also says : " My grand- 
father volunteered in Canada and after his escape returned to 
his home." His residence was then in the city of Montreal. 
Paul Heck, like Mr. Wesley, was loyal to the British crown. 

In 1785, according to Carroll, in " Case and his Cotempo- 
raries," though Dr. Cummings says it was in 1788, Paul and 
Barbara Heck left Montreal, with their two sons, John and 
Samuel, and settled in the township of Augusta, Upper Can- 
ada, now the province of Ontario. As a reward of Paul 
Heck's loyalty to George III., he and all his children then 
living drew two hundred acres of land each, in Augusta. 
Some of the patents for these lands are yet in George 
Heck's possession. Lot No. 14, near Big Creek, in Augusta 
township, was, according to Dr. Cummings, drawn by Samuel 
Heck. It was decided that he should remain upon it with, 
and care for, his father and mother, Paul and Barbara. Car- 
roll, however, states that Mr. and Mrs. Heck settled on " Lot 
No. 4, third concession, in the neighborhood of Big Creek." 
Here they lived the remainder of Paul Heck's days. 

A Methodist class was now formed in Augusta, of which 
Paul and Barbara Heck, John Lawrence, and his wife Mar- 
garet, formerly Mrs. Philip Embury, " and others who were 
of the first class formed in America by Embury were mem- 
bers." Thus, without a preacher, these same people or- 
ganized Methodism in Upper Canada, now Ontario. This 
class was under the leadership of Samuel Embury, son of 
Philip, and, it is believed, was the first society of Methodists 
formed in Canada. 



THE GEEAT HARVEST 



57 



On the farm of his son Samuel, Paul Heck died, not in 
1792, as Dr. Cummings asserts, and as is also recorded on his 
tomb, but at a date somewhat later. The exact date of his 
decease, however, is not determined, but probably it was in 
1795. It is certain he did not die before 1794 nor later 
than 1795. A copy of his will, legally attested, which I have 
seen, shows that the instrument was executed February 22, 
1794, and was admitted to probate April 2, 1795. Some time 
between those two dates the venerable testator died, probably 
in March of the latter year. 

Soon after Paul Heck's decease, his son Samuel, as Dr. 
Cummings informs us, " sold the farm on Big Creek and pur- 
chased a tract of six hundred acres, almost directly in front, 
on the St. Lawrence River. He here built a comfortable 
residence, to which, with his mother, he removed in 1799. 
Here Mrs. Barbara Heck spent the remainder of her life, en- 
joying the confidence and love of all her kindred and of the 
numerous friends who recognized her as the ' foundress,' as 
Dr. Abel Stevens most appropriately denominates her, of 
American Methodism." " 

The great Methodist harvest in America sprung from 
wind-wafted seed from Ireland. According to the eleventh 
census — 1890 — there are in the territory of the American 
Union over forty-six thousand Methodist churches, valued at 
above one hundred and thirty-two millions of dollars, exclu- 
sive of parsonages, with considerably over four and a half 
millions of communicants. Besides there are vast multi- 
tudes of adherents who are not members. The census of 
1890 also shows that the Methodist membership comprises 
over one-third of the total number of Protestant communi- 
cants in the United States. Almost a third of all the church 
edifices of the country, including the Roman Catholic, are 
Methodist, and of the Protestant Church buildings the Metho- 
dists have eight thousand in excess of a third of the whole. 
Such is the mighty result, though only in part, of the spiritual 

* For important facts in Mrs. Heck's history after her removal from the city 
of New York in 1770, I am indebted to Dr. Cummings's interesting article in the 
New York Christian Advocate, January 8. 1885. 



58 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



impulse imparted by Barbara Heck to Philip Embury in 
1766. 

In a humble hamlet in Ireland, amidst the holy and in- 
spiring influences kindled by Wesley and his preachers, Bar- 
bara Heck received the preparation for the epoch-creating 
work which she was destined to accomplish in America. 
Her loyalty to Christ and her zeal for righteousness led her 
to impel into motion the religious forces which have proved 
so potent in this land and have produced results of such 
amazing glory and grandeur. The feebleness of the instru- 
ment and the smallness of the beginning, when contrasted 
with the vast magnitude of the achievement as seen in its 
results, are sufficient evidence that she was directed by divine 
wisdom and that the work which she began was of God. 

Mrs. Heck's movement developed in less than two dec- 
ades into the ecclesiastical organization called the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, in which Church her last years were 
worthily spent. From its communion she suddenly ascended 
to " the Saint's Everlasting Best." 

" The old Heck house," says the Bev. Dr. W. H. Withrow, 
" near Maitland, is a large stone structure, built in the quaint 
Norman style common to French Canada, with massive walls 
three feet thick. At the back is the old orchard where Bar- 
bara Heck died, sitting in her chair beneath an apple-tree, 
with her German Bible on her knees. In full view sweeps 
the noble St. Lawrence, and on the opposite side is the 
American shore. It seems as if in death as in life she be- 
longs to both countries, in which, in the providence of God, 
she was the means of planting Methodism. Our Canadian 
Barbara Heck, the friend of Philip Embury, who collected 
money for old John Street Church, New York, and white- 
washed it with her own hands." * 

* New York Christian Advocate, February 25, 1886. 



CHAPTEK V. 



THE NEW YORK HEROINE'S IDENTITY, CHARACTER, AND DEATH. 

It was known to the original Methodist society in New 
York that Barbara Heck incited Philip Embury to preach 
there in 1766. Some time afterward a certain Paul Hick 
became a member of the society, and the story of Mrs. 
Heck's work was changed by the substitution therein of Paul 
Hick's mother for Paul Heck's wife. It will be remembered 
that only five persons heard Embury's first sermon in his 
" hired house." They all removed from New York, with the 
possible exception of Betty, the colored servant, whose his- 
tory I have not traced. In their absence the change in the 
tradition occurred. 

This change resulted in a controversy respecting the iden- 
tity of the woman who roused Embury to evangelical action. 
The debate began in 1858 in this way : The Eev. J. B. 
Wakeley published in that year his book known as " Lost 
Chapters," in writing which he met the Heck-Embury tra- 
dition and attempted to set it forth. He understood that 
the heroine of the unique story was the mother of Paul 
Hick, and as a letter from his hand now in my posses- 
sion shows, he had never heard that Paul Heck and his 
wife Barbara had ever been connected with the society in 
New York. He therefore fell into error concerning the initial 
act in the great Methodist drama in America. His asser- 
tions were challenged from Canada in the New York Chris- 
tian Advocate. He replied and rejoinders followed. The 
result was the dispersion of the mist which had obscured the 
name and the personality of Barbara Heck, and the bringing 
into view the woman who projected the Wesleyan cause in 
this country. 



60 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

The first time, apparently, that the Heck-Embury tradi- 
tion appeared in print was in 1818, in the sermon Nathan 
Bangs preached at the dedication of the second John Street 
Church in New York. In 1823 the story was published 
anonymously in the Methodist Magazine as a part of a 
series of articles on " The Introduction of Methodism into 
the United States." Dr. Stevens, in his " History of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church," erroneously ascribes those 
articles to the Rev. P. P. Sandford. Dr. Bangs, in the 
Christian Advocate of April 15, 1858, said of the articles : 
" I wrote them myself and published them in the Methodist 
Magazine, in 1823, while I was editor of that w T ork." The 
substance of the Heck tradition was incorporated by Bangs 
into the first volume of his " History of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church." In the New York Christian Advocate of Oc- 
tober 28, 1858, Dr. Bangs revealed the sources whence he 
derived this tradition. "I have to say," he says, "that I 
did receive the account in Canada from Samuel Heck of 
Augusta, Upper Canada, and thought at the time it was cor- 
rect. But on coming to New York in 1810 I became ac- 
quainted with Paul Hick and his family and received the 
account from him and his wife. When in 1817 the second 
John Street Church was to be dedicated, and I was requested 
to preach the dedication sermon, I went to Paul Hick and 
took down the account from him, assisted by his pious and 
intelligent wife, and then took my notes home, wrote them 
out in full, and returned and read them to Paul Hick and his 
wife. They pronounced them all correct. These were read 
at the time I preached the dedication sermon in John Street, 
and soon after they were published." 

Some years after Dr. Bangs published the Heck-Embury 
tradition, in his John Street dedication sermon, and also in 
the Methodist Magazine, and several years before he pub- 
lished it in his " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church," 
he issued " The Life of the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson." 
In the Introduction to that work he says : " By the earnest 
entreaties of Mrs. Paul Hick, a pious matron, Mr. Embury 
very reluctantly commenced preaching." This is a correct 



HECK AND HICK 



61 



statement of Mrs. Heck's relation to the beginning of Em- 
bury's gospel labors in New York, but there is a slight error 
in the spelling of her family name. Dr. Bangs says that the 
woman who went to Embury with " earnest entreaties," was 
Mrs. Paul H^'ck, whereas she was in reality Mrs. Paul Heck. 
If the letter e were substituted for the letter i in the name, 
the statement would be perfectly accurate. Bangs possibly 
overlooked the slight difference in the orthography of the 
names. 

It is not known that there was a Mrs. Paul Hick in New 
York when Embury was a resident of that city, nor is 
such a supposition at all warranted. The woman who it 
is said Paul Hick declared was instrumental in beginning 
the Wesleyan movement there was his mother, not his wife. 
There was a Conference in New York, in 1859, between John 
and George Heck, grandsons of Barbara, the Kev. John Car- 
roll, of Canada, and the Rev. J. B. Wakeley — Dr. Abel Ste- 
vens and Bishop Janes being also present — at which Dr. 
Wakeley said in writing that Mrs. Hick's " Christian and 
maiden names are not certainly known." I have seen an 
autograph letter of a grandson of Paul Hick, in which he 
likewise says that neither the Christian nor the maiden name 
of Paul Hack's mother are retained. None of the Irish au- 
thorities appear to have discovered anything of much moment 
about either Mrs. Hick or her husband. Her identity, in- 
deed, seems almost lost in the obscurity which surrounds her. 

Now, in saying, in his biography of Garrettson, that 
" Mrs. Paul Hick " gave to Philip Embury his impulse to 
preach, Dr. Bangs seems to have adhered to the Canadian 
version of the tradition. Neither in his printed John Street 
dedication sermon, nor in the Methodist Magazine, nor yet in 
his " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church," does he 
give the name of the woman who dispersed the card-party, 
and then effectually besought Embury to preach. It was in 
the interval between the publication of the first two and the 
last one of those writings that Bangs announced the woman's 
name in his work on Garrettson. It would seem that in the 
sermon in 1818, in the Magazine in 1823, and in the History 



62 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



in 1839, he did not adopt either the Canadian or the New 
York version of the tradition concerning the person who led 
Embury to the pulpit ; while in 1829 he was so far favorable 
to the Canada version that he wrote the woman's name as 
Mrs. Paul Hick, which, except a single letter in the spell- 
ing, was accurate. 

Justice requires that, in so far as he is known to have 
spoken for himself in relation to this matter, Dr. Bangs 
should be heard in his own language. He says : "I had 
reason to believe from the established character of Paul 
Hick, as a member of the Church, a trustee, and a class 
leader, that he told me the truth ; and therefore I concluded 
that Samuel Heck of Canada was under an innocent mistake, 
for he no doubt thought he had told me the truth. That one 
or the other of them was mistaken is certain, and I am in- 
clined to believe that Paul Hick of New York, who professed 
to knoiv the facts he gave to me, which were corroborated by 
his wife, was correct in his statements. These formed the 
basis of the account which I published in the Magazine, in 
1823, and in my History, in 1839." * 

But, prior to his narration of the story in either of those 
publications, Bangs gave it publicity, as I have shown, in his 
John Street dedicatory sermon, in 1818. Thus we have four 
several accounts by him of the origin of Methodism in New 
York in an equal number of publications, issued respectively 
in 1818, 1823, 1829, and 1839. In the Introduction to the 
" Life of Garrettson," in 1829, Bangs says : " To ascertain 
the truth the writer took much pains some years since, by 
conversing with several of the aged members of the [New 
York] society, all of whom have since been called to their re- 
ward in heaven, who distinctly remembered the first rise of 
the society, and took a grateful delight in rehearsing the cir- 
cumstances attending its formation and progress." In the 
sermon as published, which he preached on the occasion of 
the John Street dedication, January 4, 1818, his statement 
concerning Mrs. Heck is contrary to that which he inserted 
in his History, over a score of years later. I will now exhibit, 

*Dr. Bangs's letter in New York Christian Advocate, October 28, 1858. 



BANGS VERSUS BANGS 



63 



in parallel columns, Dr. Bangs's remarks as they related to 
Mrs. Heck, in the dedication sermon in 1818, and his con- 
trary statement about the mother of Paul Hick, in his His- 
tory, in 1839. Neither in the Sermon nor the History does 
he name the heroine of his story in the text, but he identifies 
her in each work in a note in the margin, which foot-notes I 
shall now reproduce in connection with the text. 



Bangs in the John Stbeet Ded- 
icatoby seemon, est 1818, re- 
SPECTING Mes. Heck. 

Persevering in their conscien- 
tious efforts to promote the pres- 
ent and future welfare of their 
fellowmen, this place [the rigging 
loftj also became insufficient to 
contain the people who assembled 
with them. They therefore began 
to think seriously of erecting a 
house of worship. In this pious 
design, however, they seemed to 
meet with insuperable difficulties. 
Most of the society being poor, 
they had not the requisite means 
for such an undertaking. While 
all were deliberating upon the 
proper course to be pursued to 
accomplish their design, an elder- 
ly lady, one of the emigrants, and 
a worthy member of the society, 
while earnestly engaged in prayer 
to God for aid and direction, re- 
ceived with inexpressible sweet- 
ness this answer : " I, the Lord, 
will do it." At the same time a 
plan of operation presenting itself 
to her mind, she encouraged them 
to proceed.* 

Ba?igs's foot-note to the above is as fol- 
lows : 

* This worthy disciple of Christ, 
whose well-directed zeal contributed so 
much toward the prosperity of this so- 



bangs in the "hlstoey of the 
Methodist Episcopal Chuech," 
in 1839, eespecting mes. hlck. 

In consequence of the accession 
of members to the society and 
hearers of the word, the rigging- 
loft also became too small, and 
hence they began to consult to- 
gether on the propriety of build- 
ing a house of worship. But for 
the accomplishment of this under- 
taking many difficulties were to be 
encountered. The members of the 
society were yet few in number, 
and most of them of the poorer 
class, and of course had but a 
limited acquaintance and influ- 
ence in the community. For 
some time a painful suspense 
kept them undetermined which 
way to act. But while all were 
deliberating on the most suitable 
means to be adopted to accom- 
plish an end so desirable and even 
necessary to their continued pros- 
perity, an elderly lady,* one of 
the Irish emigrants before men- 
tioned, while fervently engaged in 
prayer for direction in this impor- 
tant enterprise, received with in- 
expressible sweetness and power 
this answer, " I, the Lord, will do 
it." At the same time a plan was 
presented to her mind, which, on 
being presented to the society, 



64 



THE WES LEY AN" MOVEMENT IN" AMERICA 



ciety, removed from this city to Ash- 
grove, and from thence to Upper Can- 
ada, where she ended her mortal life in 
the triumph of faith. It seems she had 
frequently prayed for a sudden death. 
Sitting with her spectacles on, the Bible 
and Hymn-Book on her lap, and raising 
her hands toward heaven, she shouted, 
" Glory to God," and fell dead. The 
author, while travelling in Upper Can- 
ada, preached in the house where this 
eminent saint thus ended her pilgrim- 
age, and received from her son, who was 
a worthy member of our Church, the 
above account of his mother. 



was generally approved of, and 
finally adopted. 

Bangs's foot-note to the above is as fol- 
lows : 

* The name of this pious woman was 
Hick, the mother of the late Paul Hick, 
who became a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in his youth, and was 
subsequently a class leader and trustee, 
in which offices he continued until near 
the close of his life, and finally died in 
the triumphs of faith in the seventy- 
fourth year of his age. He has children 
and grandchildren, now members of the 
Church in the city of New York. He 
has often conversed with the writer re- 
specting the circumstances and incidents 
of those early days of Methodism, with 
much apparent delight and gratitude. 
When quite a lad his mother used to 
lead him. by the hand to the meetings ; 
and, said he, " The first sixpence I could 
ever call my own I put into the plate 
which was carried around to receive the 
contributions of the people, and I felt 
in so doing an inexpressible pleasure." 
God abundantly rewarded him in after 
life, with both temporal and spiritual 
blessings, and he lived to see this " seed 
of the Kingdom spring up and bear fruit 
even a hundredfold." Several of the 
facts above narrated were received by 
the writer from Mr. Hick and other 
members of his family. 



It is remarkable that Dr. Bangs should have declared, 
in his John Street dedicatory sermon, that the woman who 
was the inspiring agent in the erection of the first Methodist 
Church in New York was she who removed to Ashgrove, and 
thence to Canada, where she suddenly died in her chair — 
which woman was none other than Barbara, wife of Paul 
Heck — and that then, more than twenty years later, he should 
have said in his History that the woman in question was 
the mother of Paul Htck. 

At the time Bangs published his sermon, Paul Hick and 
Hannah Dean, his wife, were living, and he declares he 
wrote this story, as he obtained it from them, and that it was 



HECK AND HICK AGAIN 



65 



read at the dedication, he having previously read it to them 
and received their confirmation of its accuracy. When in his 
History, above twenty years afterward, he said that this not- 
able woman was the mother of Paul Hick, the said Paul 
Hick had been fourteen years dead. Thus, when he had re- 
ceived the account fresh from Mr. and Mrs. Hick's lips, and 
when both were yet living in New York, he there published, 
in the sermon foot-note, that the woman of whom he 
spoke in the text was Barbara Heck, of Canada, and then, 
when they had long been dead, he, above a score of years 
later, said she was Paul Hick's mother. Between the dates 
of these two publications, namely, in 1829, Bangs pub- 
lished his " Life of Garrettson," in the Introduction to which 
he declared that the woman who induced Embury to preach 
in New York was " Mrs. Paul Hick." 

The change in this tradition was effected in New York at 
a comparatively early period, probably within two or three 
decades after Mrs. Heck's removal from the city. We find 
it in its changed form in the following passage from an early 
historical document, namely, Peter Parks's " Statement of the 
Bise of Methodism in America : " " Sister Hick, mother of 
Paul Hick, who resided opposite the barracks, persuaded Mr. 
Emmery [Embury] to have preaching in his house, and he 
accordingly called the neighbors together for preaching." 

Dr. Bangs put the case respecting the tradition as related 
to him by both Samuel Heck and Paul Hick, thus : " That 
one or the other was mistaken is certain." Let us now see 
if we can ascertain on which side the mistake lay. 

First. The fact that so little is known concerning the 
mother of Paul Hick indicates that she died when Paul was 
young. Had she lived until he grew out of childhood it is 
improbable that he would have failed to embalm her name in 
the records of his family. He is said to have claimed that 
his mother was also " the mother of American Methodism." 
His children and later descendants would have proudly cher- 
ished her name as that of, in their belief, the foremost Meth- 
odist heroine of this continent, had he made it known to 
them orally or in writing. Paul Hick lived until 1825, and 



66 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



had lie known her name it surely would have been retained 
in his family until 1858, when the controversy arose concern- 
ing her relation to the origin of Methodism in America. 

Of the time or circumstances of the death of the mother 
of Paul Hick we know nothing save the tradition as given by 
Dr. Wakeley in his "Lost Chapters " as follows : " Mrs. Hick 
died many years ago in the triumphs of our holy religion, and 
was buried in Trinity Church-yard in New York. No stone 
or monument tells where her precious dust is sleeping." The 
absence of identification of her burial-place strongly suggests 
that her death occurred when her son Paul was a child. Had 
he known where her body was consigned to dust is it likely 
that he would have failed to keep the spot in tender and sacred 
memory, or to visit it and to lead his children to her grave ? 
It is understood that he possessed competent means. Had 
he then known where was his mother's sleeping-place — the 
mother wdiose supposed heroic and historic deeds he fondly 
narrated — would he have failed to distinguish it by some ap- 
propriate " monumental stone ? " 

On the apparently well-based assumption that Paul Hick's 
mother died while he was yet too young to remember her 
name, it may be supposed that he did not hear much directly 
from her about the circumstances connected with the begin- 
ning of Embury's great work. I have not seen any statement 
that she ever said she confounded the card-players and im- 
pelled Embury to the pulpit. However, her family seem 
to have believed her to have been the person who performed 
those works. 

Second. In this belief they were mistaken, as is shown 
by the following evidence : 

(1) There lived in Ireland a maiden named Barbara 
Euckle, daughter of Sebastian Euckle. She married Paul 
Heck, with w r hom she came to America in 1760. The Eev. 
William Crook, in his work on " Ireland and the Centenary 
of American Methodism," has made these facts clear, and 
placed them above dispute. On the other hand, we get no 
word from beyond the sea respecting the ancestry, or even 
the identity, of the mother of Paul Hick. 



BARBARA HECK'S LETTER 



67 



(2) Barbara Heck wrote to a friend in Ireland an account 
of her work in originating Methodism in New York. The 
Rev. William Crook, in the above-mentioned book, says : 
" Mrs. Heck sent a letter from New York to a friend in Bal- 
lingran in which she gave an account of the transaction. 
This letter was preserved for many years, and old Mrs. 
Ruckle told me she had often read it and had it in her pos- 
session for a long time. It was subsequently taken to Amer- 
ica by Mr. Christopher Ruckle, who emigrated some years 
since, and settled, I think, in Ohio." 

It will not be irrelevant to indicate here who this "old 
Mrs. Ruckle " was. This I will do in Mr. Crook's words : 
"Mrs. Heck's house is still standing in venerable age. When 
I first saw it old Mrs. Barbara Ruckle, connected by marriage 
with Mrs. Heck, lived in it, and a grand old woman she was 
as I have met with since. When I saw it last she was gone 
to join her kindred in the house above. She had so much 
individuality of character that she stands out alone before 
my mind, in many respects unlike any one else whom I have 
ever known. She bore Mrs. Heck's honored name, Barbara 
Ruckle, lived in her house, and caught her mantle too. I 
fancy that Mrs. Heck was just such another woman." * 

Such was the witness who told Mr. Crook that she had 
long held in her possession, and often had read, a letter from 
Barbara Heck, in which the latter related the story of her 
relation to the beginning of the Wesleyan movement in this 
land. 

Christopher Ruckle, who, as Crook states, emigrated from 
Ireland and went to Ohio in 1848, settled at Maumee, near 
Toledo. He is dead ; but the statement of " Old Mrs. Ruckle " 
that he took Mrs. Heck's letter to America is confirmed by 
his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Whidden. In a letter from Mrs. 
Whidden, in my possession, of the date of January 19, 1890, 
she says : " Father had the Barbara Heck letter. Father 
showed the letter to several in Maumee and thought he lost it 
in some books that he lent. The ministers of the Methodist 
Church came for the letter after it was lost. Father told them 

* Ireland and the Centenary of American Methodism, by the Rev. William Crook. 



6S 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



he could tell them almost word for word of the letter. Mrs. 
Heck was a great-grandaurit of mine." 

In a subsequent letter, also in my possession, dated Pres- 
que Isle, O., March 4, 1890, Mrs. Whidden gives the substance 
of that which Mrs. Heck wrote. She says : " As to that letter 
that father had, it was written by Barbara Heck herself. 
The words, as near as I know, were — Mrs. Heck went to the 
house and found her countrymen playing cards. She took 
the cards out of their hands and threw them into the fire. 
Then she spoke to Mr. Embury and told him that he must 
speak to the people, and if he did not their souls would be 
required at his hands. He spoke to her and said, I have 
neither house nor congregation. She told him to preach in 
his own house first and she would find a congregation. So 
she went among her countrymen and spoke to them. There 
were but six at the first meeting. This is all that I remem- 
ber about the letter." 

Thus we have explicit testimony from a witness of high 
character in Ireland, now dead, and also from a living daugh- 
ter of Christopher Euckle, both connected with the family of 
Mrs. Heck, that Barbara Heck wrote an epistolary document 
which was long preserved, in which she related the thrilling 
story of her inauguration of the Wesleyan reformation in 
America. 

(3) Barbara Heck also related the same story orally. 
This presumptively is shown first of all by Dr. Bangs, 
who says that Samuel Heck, a son of Barbara Heck, told 
him that his mother was the instrument of originating 
Methodism in New York. Samuel Coate, an eloquent 
Methodist preacher, went to Canada as a missionary of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in 1796, and thereafter, during 
the continuance of his ministry, he was chiefly in that coun- 
try. At about the close of the eighteenth century he mar- 
ried Ann Dulmage, whose parents came to America with the 
Emburys and the Hecks. In Baltimore, where Mr. Coate 
was then preaching, Bishop Asbury, in his Journal, under the 
date of August 7, 1802, made this record, namely : " The wife 
of our brother, Samuel Coate, had a daughter born to her, 



TESTIMONIES IN SUPPORT OF MRS. HECK'S STORY 69 

whom I baptized, naming her Sophia." As Barbara Heck 
lived two years after the birth of this child, it is apparent 
that Mrs. Coate, who was from the Heck locality in Canada, 
had good knowledge of her. Concerning Barbara Heck, she 
gave this testimony : "I often overheard Mrs. Heck relate to 
my mother the circumstances of the recovery of the back- 
slidden, card-playing Methodists, and the arousal of Philip 
Embury to preach through her instrumentality. As I was 
the wife of the Rev. Samuel Coate I was acquainted with the 
Rev. Nathan Bangs when he labored in this country [Can- 
ada] and have reason to believe that he knew the Heck fam- 
ily well." 

Mrs. Sarah Dulmage, whose husband, I think, was a 
brother of Mrs. Coate, declared, in August, 1858, over her 
own signature, that she knew Barbara Heck, and knew her, 
too, as a woman of high Christian character, and had 
" often heard her relate the incidents " of the cards and Em- 
bury " years and years before any account was published." 
At the time Mrs. Dulmage gave this testimony she was 
eighty years old, and therefore she must have been twenty-six 
when Barbara Heck died. Thus we have the testimony of 
credible witnesses to the fact that Mrs. Heck orally said she 
" stirred up Embury to preach." 

(4) The claim of Mrs. Heck is supported by witnesses of 
the facts. We have seen that John Lawrence, who became 
the husband of Philip Embury's widow, was present when 
Barbara Heck in New York stopped the card -playing of her 
friends. John Lawrence, son of the above John Lawrence 
and of the former Mrs. Embury, in a letter which the 
Rev. G. G. Saxe, now of Madison, N. J., had in his pos- 
session, and a portion of which he published in the New 
York Christian Advocate in 1858, bore testimony to Barbara 
Heck's agency in arousing Philip Embury to evangelistic 
activity. In that letter John Lawrence says : " My father 
was present when Barbara Heck, wife of Paul Heck, who 
both emigrated to Canada, threw the cards into the fire and 
said, 'Philip, you must preach to us.' " 

In a letter to the Rev. John Carroll this same John Law- 



70 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



rence says : " I have heard my father, who was husband to 
the late Philip Embury's wife, say it was Barbara Heck, 
who emigrated to Canada, that threw the cards into the fire 
and exhorted Philip Embury to go and preach or they would 
all be lost. Mrs. Lawrence confirms the above statement by 
what she heard from her mother, who was a sister of Paul 
Heck, the husband of Barbara. Edward Dulmage, whose 
mother also was a child of Mrs. Embury, has heard his par- 
ents relate the same circumstances." These testimonies, ex- 
cept the Saxe letter, were published by the Rev. John Carroll 
in the New York Christian Advocate of September 30 and 
October 7, 1858. 

Thus, as we see, there is decisive proof that with both 
pen and voice Mrs. Heck declared she dispersed a group 
of card-players, flung the cards into the flames, and then im- 
plored Philip Embury to preach. Furthermore, we know 
she dwelt near to Embury in Camden Valley, New York, 
and afterward she lived near to Mrs. Embury on the river 
St. Lawrence. John Lawrence, who witnessed her abrupt 
intrusion into the group who were playing cards, was also 
her neighbor in the latter place, and Samuel Embury, son of 
Philip and Margaret Embury, was her class-leader there. In 
a word, she passed most of her days, after her removal from 
New York, among the people who knew whether her story 
about her relation to the origin of Methodism in America was 
true or false. John Lawrence, who married Mrs. Embury, 
declared that her story was true. He saw her destroy the 
cards and he was at Embury's first meeting in New York. 
This John Lawrence lived so long that the yet surviving grand- 
son of Barbara Heck, namely, George Heck, saw him and 
remembers seeing him die. Throughout all this . time John 
Lawrence could not have been a victim of an illusion on this 
point, nor can we believe that he gave testimony so long to 
a falsehood. Besides, his wife, who, when these events oc- 
curred, was Mrs. Philip Embury, could not have been ignorant 
of the facts, and her son John Lawrence testifies, as we have 
just seen, to the accuracy of Barbara Heck's narrative. Had 
Mrs. Heck's story been false there were those near by her 



THE NAME BARBARA 



71 



who could have exposed its untruthfulness. There can be 
no doubt that they knew her story to be true, nor that they 
confirmed it by their testimony. 

(5) The Heck-Embury tradition, as it was held in both 
New York and Canada, retained the one and only Christian 
name of its heroine, which was Barbara. Dr. Wakeley, in his 
" Lost Chapters," wrote of the woman in question under the 
name of Barbara. It thus appears that the tradition in New 
York preserved her Christian name, even though it other- 
wise, by mistake as we assume, despoiled her of her historical 
identity. Wherever we find this tradition, whether in Ire- 
land, or New York, or Canada, no Christian name of its hero- 
ine is heard but Barbara. It was Barbara who wrote the 
story to a friend in Ireland. It was ever Barbara in Wake- 
ley's " Lost Chapters " which represents the New York version 
of the tradition. It was Barbara in the last Will and Testa- 
ment of Paul Heck in 1794. This the following passages 
from that instrument will show : " I give and bequeath to 
Barbara, my dearly beloved wife, this house wherein I now 
dwell and all the movables therein, to be hers and at her 
command as long as she lives." Other bequests he likewise 
made to her. In regard to the executors of his will, Paul 
Heck therein said : " For the faithful performance hereof I 
appoint and ordain John Dulmage of Edwardsburg and my 
son Samuel Heck to be executors of this my last will and 
testament. I also constitute Barbara my wife executrix of 
this my testament in connection with the two before men- 
tioned." The names of the witnesses affixed to this will are 
Darius Dunham, John Dulmage, and John Heck. The first 
of these was a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
who at the time he put his signature to this testamentary 
document was in the service of his denomination in Canada. 
The fact that Dunham was a witness to the will indicates 
that Paul and Barbara Heck, in their advanced age, confided 
in and stood closely related to the Methodist preachers. 
Although the mother of Paul Hick has left behind her no 
Christian name, yet wherever this tradition has been met it 
bears the name Barbara. The reason for this, I think, is 



72 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



found only in the fact that though for many years the real 
person in that historic drama was lost to view in New York, 
her Christian name had become so embalmed in the story of 
her heroic deeds that it could not perish. 

(6) The story told by Mrs. Heck of her relation to the 
beginning of Methodism in New York was either true or 
false. If false, she was conscious of its falseness. The 
testimony is explicit and incontrovertible that Barbara Heck 
asserted, both in writing and orally, that she rebuked a group 
of men at cards in New York and then besought Philip Em- 
bury to interpose his ministry for their salvation. Was her 
story false ? If so, she cannot be exculpated by the hypothe- 
sis that she was innocently mistaken. If what she said of 
her relation to the origin of Methodism in New York was 
not true, she was a deliberate liar ; and as such she lived and 
died. Can this be believed? By the testimony of those 
who knew her long and well her character is shown to have 
been of a high model of blamelessness and excellence. She 
gave proof, down to the end, of her loyalty to God and to 
truth, and she died with God's book of truth upon her per- 
son. Dr. Bangs himself described her as "an eminent 
saint." The idea of her testifying to a lie through all the 
last thirty-eight years of her life is utterly incredible. 

Moreover, if Mrs. Heck's story were false, her associates, 
such as John Lawrence, the Emburys, and her husband Paul 
were also guilty of lying. Apparently no stain is upon their 
names. They lived in the esteem of their people, and they 
sleep the sleep of the just. It is absurd to think that they 
were in collusion to support Barbara Heck to the end in 
maintaining a lie. The soul of candor revolts from a sugges- 
tion so shocking. No, Mrs. Heck knew whereof she affirmed 
and her testimony was true. John Lawrence knew the truth 
of her story by having witnessed the destruction of the cards 
by her hand, and for more than half a century he testified to 
the truthfulness of her narrative. Lawrence's wife, who prior 
to her marriage to him was the widow of the illustrious Em- 
bury, left the tradition in its integrity of Mrs. Heck's agency 
in starting Methodism in New York. Surely these all were 



MRS. HECK'S DEATH 



73 



not deceivers. Beyond all question their testimony to Bar- 
bara Heck's instrumentality in originating the Wesleyan 
movement in America was true. 

They who knew the truth of her story sleep with her in 
the graveyard near " the old blue church " on the banks of 
the St. Lawrence. In October, 1884, the Kev. Dr. W. H. 
Wi throw made, as he says, a pilgrimage to her grave. " On 
a white marble slab is the following inscription : ' In mem- 
ory of Paul Heck : born 1730, died 1792 ; ' * and under it ' Bar- 
bara, wife of Paul Heck, born 1731 ; died August 17, 1804' 
Near by are the graves of seventeen other members of the 
Heck family. To the members of this godly family the prom- 
ised blessing, even length of days, was strikingly vouchsafed. 
On six graves lying side by side I noted the following ages : 
seventy-three ; seventy -eight ; seventy-eight ; fifty-three ; 
seventy-five ; fifty-nine. On others I noted the following- 
ages : sixty-three ; sixty-two ; seventy ; seventy. I observed 
also the grave of a little Barbara Heck, aged three years and 
six months. Near the grave of Barbara Heck, the foundress 
of Methodism in the New World, is that of her life-long com- 
panion the beautiful Margaret Switzer, who at the age of 
sixteen married Philip Embury, and after his death married 
John Lawrence — a pious Methodist who left Ireland with 
Embury. His grave is beside that of his wife." f 

In this visit to the Heck shrine Dr. Wi throw saw " the 
old German black-letter Bible " on which the eyes of Barbara 
Heck rested just before her transition from earth to glory. 
"It bears," he says, "the clearly written inscription 'Paul 
Heck, sein buch, item gegeben darin zu lemon die Nieder- 
reiche sprache. Amen.' " 

Her grandson, Mr. George Heck, has told me that Bar- 
bara Heck died on a summer day while sitting in the grounds 
of her home on the banks of the St. Lawrence. The sudden 
and mournful event occurred August 17, 1804. No one was 
with her at the moment but her grandson, John Heck, then 

* As is shown on page 57, this date of Paul Heck's death is inaccurate, 
t Dr. Withrow's article, " More about Barbara Heck," Christian Advocate, New 
York, February 25, 1886. 



74 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

a small boy, who, in his old age, told Bishop Merrill he 
was a witness of her death. She apparently had been read- 
ing her Bible, which was found with her when her demise 
was discovered. She had slipped partly or wholly from her 
chair, seemingly by a gentle movement, and she was not, 
for God took her. Her Bible was found in a position which 
indicated that it had lain upon her lap. Thus, refreshed 
with God's "Word, she quickly passed into his presence, 
leaving to the Church of her founding and of her love a rec- 
ord of heroic deeds, and an example of beautiful womanly and 
Christian virtues. 

In the discourse of Nathan Bangs at the dedication of the 
second John Street Church, in a foot-note, as we have seen, 
he describes Mrs. Heck's death thus : " It seems she had 
frequently prayed for a sudden death. Sitting with her 
spectacles on, the Bible and hymn-book on her lap, and rais- 
ing her hands toward heaven, she shouted ' Glory to God? 
and fell dead. The author, while travelling in Upper Canada, 
preached in the house where this eminent saint thus ended 
her pilgrimage." 

Barbara Heck's grave is beside that of the husband who 
was blest and honored by her long companionship, close to 
the old blue church in Augusta, near Maitland and Prescott, 
on the St. Lawrence. 

Her religious character was positive. It sheds lustre upon 
the Methodism to which it bears an imperishable relation. 
It was of the true Wesleyan experimental and practical type. 
Her granddaughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Howard, on August 25, 
1858, over her signature, related the following testimony con- 
cerning her sainted grandparents, Paul and Barbara Heck : 

" I have reason to believe that both my grandparents lived 
holily and died in the Lord. My own mother often heard 
my grandmother [Barbara Heck] say that she was converted 
at the age of eighteen years, and that she never lived a whole 
day without a satisfactory evidence of her acceptance in the 
Beloved. I have cause to believe that she was utterly inca- 
pable of an untruth." 

Mrs. Ann McLean, whose first husband was Samuel 



MRS. HECK'S CHRISTIAN CHARACTER 



75 



Coate, one of the most powerful and popular of the preach- 
ers of the Methodist Episcopal Church in his day, bore tes- 
timony to Mrs. Heck's goodness thus : 

" My maiden name was Dulmage and my parents were of 
the number of German-Irish emigrants, some of whom con- 
stituted the first Methodist society in the city of New York. 
I knew Barbara Heck, once of New York and late of Canada. 
She was apparently a very good woman." 

The Kev. Joseph Bass, who, according to a Canadian 
Methodist historian — the Bev. John Carroll — was " a highly 
respectable local preacher, a man of intelligence, and who was 
appointed leader of the second class ever formed in his part 
of Canada" (Ontario), delivered this testimony: 

" I knew the late Paul and Barbara Heck. They had 
been in the country (near Prescott) three or four years be- 
fore I came here nearly seventy years ago. They had been 
Methodists before coming here. They were members of the 
first class that I ever joined, of which Samuel Embury, son of 
the celebrated Philip, was the leader. Mr. and Mrs. Heck 
were most blameless characters and continued faithful to the 
end. I often heard them speak of being members of the New 
York society and I heard something about Mrs. Heck being 
the means of starting the society." 

These testimonies give assurance that Mrs. Heck's was a 
spotless character of exalted worth. Her faith was shown 
by her works and particularly in the vast and sublime service 
she rendered to Christianity in opening the Wesley an Pente- 
cost in the New World. 

Mrs. Heck's birthplace was Ballingran, Ireland. Her 
father, Sebastian Buckle, lived and died in the house in 
which she was born. " It is still standing, in venerable age, 
apparently with sufficient stamina to be an ornament and 
prominent attraction of Ballingran for many years to come." * 
When Barbara Buckle married Paul Heck she exchanged 
this residence for his house, " which stood not very far from 
our little church, and every trace of which has long since 

* Ireland and the Centenary of American Methodism. By the Rev. William 
Crook, London, 1866, p. 78. 



76 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



passed away. There is nothing very particular about Mrs. 
Heck's house. It is an ordinary comfortable cottage with a 
garden before the door. It will interest many to know that 
the Methodist ministers are still hospitably entertained in 
the house which was the birthplace of Barbara Heck."* 

The Key. William Case was an eminent Methodist preach- 
er and a fellow-laborer in Canada of the Rev. Nathan Bangs 
in the early years of the nineteenth century. In 1855 Case 
wrote a letter to the latter, which Dr. Abel Stevens has repro- 
duced in the first volume of his " History of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church." It shows that Case gave full credence to 
the tradition of Barbara Heck's relation to the origin of the 
Wesley an cause in New York City. It also bears testimony 
to the character of the family of which she was the honored 
mother. In this letter to Dr. Bangs, Case, of whom Stevens 
says " there has been no better authority in Canadian Meth- 
odist history," wrote this notable passage : " You will re- 
member the names of Samuel and Jacob Heck of Augusta, 
and the Emburys of the Bay of Quinte — the former the sons 
of Paul Heck and his worthy companion, the parents of Meth- 
odism in the city of New York and America. The parents 
are gone, and the sons have followed them in the way of ho- 
liness to Glory." 

Having thus established the identity of Barbara Heck, 
and traced her history down to the tomb, I now take leave of 
her, the true woman, the blameless Christian, the honored 
wife, the saintly mother of a godly seed, the mother also of 
American Methodism, a disciple who was faithful unto death, 
and whose name will live and shine illustrious and potent 
for righteousness as long as the sun and the moon endure. 

* Ireland and the Centenary of American Methodism. By the Rev. William 
Crook, London, 1866, p. 78. 



CHAPTEE VI. 



THE LABOES OF EMBURY AND WEBB WITH THE SOCIETY IN NEW 
YORK PRIOR TO 1770, AND THE ERECTION OF JOHN STREET 
PREACHING-HOUSE. 

Housed to evangelical activity by Mrs. Heck's persuasive 
pleading Philip Embury had the joy of beholding the rise and 
progress of a new religious reformation in his adopted city. 

To him belongs the distinction of having preached the 
first Wesley an sermon in New York, and also of forming the 
first society of Methodists in this country. Beginning with 
an audience of five persons he soon was compelled to find a 
larger place for the increasing numbers that came to his 
meetings. 

According to Peter Parks, Embury lived in an upper 
room in Barracks Street. There has been some discussion 
concerning the exact locality of that street, and whether 
it was the street afterward known by the name of Augus- 
tus. But Parks — who the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper says was five 
years old when Methodism began in New York, and became 
a member of the original society " when quite a youth " — dis- 
tinctly declares in his " True Statement " that Embury lived in 
Barracks Street, " ten doors from the barracks, now called 
Augusta [Augustus] Street." Parks also says that the woman 
who " persuaded Mr. Embury to have preaching in his house 
resided opposite the barracks." As he lived in the city, and 
as his grandmother and mother were among the early members 
of the society, and as he must have been nine years old when 
Embury left New York, it is probable that Parks possessed 
accurate knowledge of Embury's residence. The historical 
sketch in the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
of 1791, conveys the information that in the same year that 



78 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



Embury opened his ministry in his domicile " Thomas Webb 
preached in a hired room near the barracks." This statement 
is corroborated by the earliest extant account of the origin of 
the movement in New York, which is in a letter written there- 
from to Mr. Wesley by T. T. (Thomas Taylor), April 11, 
1768. Taylor therein says that Embury "spoke at first only 
in his own house ; " but afterward an empty room was 
rented in the " neighborhood, which was the most infamous 
street in the city, adjoining the barracks." * 

The polluted moral atmosphere of the locality in which 

* The writer of this letter, whichis signed T. T., is identified thus : Speaking of 
the purchase of the ground for the Wesleyan chapel in New York, he says : " There 
are eight of us who are joint purchasers, among whom Mr. Lupton and Mr. Webb 
are men of property." The original deed of conveyance of this ground, which is in 
the custody of the Eighteenth Street Methodist Episcopal Church, New York, bears 
the date of March 30, 1768. It contains the names of the purchasers, and their number 
is exactly the same as given in the letter by T. T. The names in the instrument 
of conveyance are these, namely : " Philip Embury, William Lupton, Charles White, 
Richard Sause, Henry Newton, Paul Heck, and Thomas Taylor [T. T.], all of the 
city of New York, and Thomas Webb, of Queens County." That the writer of 
the letter was Thomas Taylor seems to be clear. Taylor is fairly accurate no doubt 
in his account of the origin of Methodism in New York, but I cannot accept his 
authority absolutely as to the time. For example, the statement occurs in his 
letter that WhitefiekTs " last journey " to New York was " about fourteen years 
since ; " whereas Whitefield was in New York in December, 1763, and possibly in the 
beginning of 1764 ; that is to say, a little more than four years before Taylor 
wrote. This letter was written five and a half months after Taylor came to New- 
York from England ; and while, as a new emigrant, he was acquainted in a general 
way with the facts relating to Embury's work it is not improbable that he was 
without exact knowledge of the dates. When, therefore, he states that Embury 
was roused up " eighteen months ago," he no doubt gave the time as he understood 
it, but probably not with accuracy. Asbury, in the Discipline of 1791, says that 
"Thomas Webb preached in a hired room near the Barracks, in 1766." Taylor, 
writing April 11, 1768, says that Webb found the New York Methodists out " about 
fourteen months ago," which fixes the time at "about" the middle of February, 
1767. Taylor's use of the word "about" shows, however, that he did not profess 
exactness as to the time. As I have already shown, I regard Jesse Lee, the author 
of the first extended History of the Methodists in America, as better entitled to 
acceptance than any other Methodist historian and writer, especially where dates 
are involved. The letter of T. T. (Taylor), which was made public in an appendix 
to Atmore's Methodist Memorial in 1804, is valuable for the light it throws upon 
an obscure period of the Wesleyan movement in this country, but its author, concern- 
ing whom nothing is known except what he states in his letter, and who was but a 
stranger in New York when he wrote, and probably much occupied with his private 
concerns, perhaps was not exactly informed in every instance respecting the dates 
with which he connected events. We know nothing of Taylor's accuracy as a his- 
torical writer, only as we may judge from his epistle. 



DRINKLNG- HOUSES AND MILITARY BARRACKS 79 



the New York Methodists assembled after they went out 
from Embury's house is shown by a recent authority, the 
late Mr. Henry B. Dawson, who, in an article in the New 
York Christian Advocate, April 16, 1885, says: "In April, 
1776, a record was made of the retailers of spirituous liquors 
in the city of New York, a copy of which is before me, and I 
find that on Barracks Street there were three ; at the ' back 
of the barracks ' [which extended along a line parallel with 
the Chambers Street of our day, but south of it], there was 
one unlicensed retailer ; while at the ' corner of Barracks,' 
there was one who was licensed ; ' near the Barracks ' there 
were three that were licensed ; and near the Barracks gate 
there were three others, one of them unlicensed. It will be 
seen, therefore, that the neighborhood of the Barracks was 
well contaminated with the elements of vice. But Barracks 
Street, on which there was some pretension to respectability, 
presented only three of the eleven which were thus officially 
noticed." If in 1776 this first field of American Wesleyan- 
ism was so base, it is quite possible that it was even worse 
when Embury first unfurled the Methodist banner there. 

Thus, among drinking-houses, in near proximity to a 
military barracks, in a very precinct of sin which was desig- 
nated as " infamous," the first band of American Methodists 
set up their banners. Jesse Lee asserts, in his History, 
that " but few thought it worth their while to assemble with 
them in so contemptible a place," and Ezekiel Cooper says, 
" they were a poor and persecuted people, and had but few 
friends." * 

In his account of this stage of the work, Peter Parks does 
not mention the " hired room," but speaks only of Embury's 
house as the meeting-place of the Wesleyans before their re- 
moval to the rigging-loft. We are ignorant, therefore, con- 
cerning how much of the good work which Parks artlessly 
describes was achieved in Embury's dwelling, and how much 
in the hired room adjoining the Barracks. 

The movement now advanced rapidly. " There was a 
great excitement among the people," says Parks. "Many 

* Cooper on Asbury, p. 73. 



80 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

were awakened and some converted. Among those that 
were converted was my grandmother, Catherine Taylor, and 
my mother, Mary Parks. At this time Mr. Embury formed a 
class of all the members then in the society, who were twelve. 
There were three musicians belonging to the Sixteenth Regi- 
ment of the British troops, then stationed in the barracks in 
Barracks Street. Their names were James Hodge, Addison 
Low, and John Buckley. They were exhorters, and assisted 
Mr. Embury in the meetings. There were some souls awak- 
ened and converted in the poor - house. Mrs. Devericks 
[Devereux ?] was one. Through her instrumentality Mr. Em- 
bury was called to preach in the poor-house. By this means 
the master of the poor-house, Billy Littlewood, was awak- 
ened and converted." 

Thus we see that the first Methodists of America plunged 
into the purlieus of vice, and also bore their glorious message 
to the outcasts of poverty. Close by the barracks, amid 
scenes that were " infamous," the gospel as proclaimed by the 
mechanic Embury had " free course," and in the almshouse 
the superintendent, Billy Littlewood, became its trophy. He 
was a useful convert. In October, 1773, Joseph Pilmoor, in 
Philadelphia, wrote in his diary : " Tuesday I was to have 
gone to Chester, but had so much writing to do I was glad to 
send Billy Littlewood, who, though no preacher, is a good 
man, and will, I hope, be a blessing to the people." 

And now a military hero appears among the lowly Wes- 
leyans of New York. Lieutenant, otherwise called Captain, 
Webb, is a name famed in two hemispheres for his achieve- 
ments as " a good soldier of Jesus Christ." In the historical 
account of the Rise of Methodism in New York, which was 
published in the Methodist Episcopal Discipline in 1791, it 
is said that " Webb preached in a hired room near the bar- 
racks," in 1766. Nathan Bangs, in his John Street dedica- 
tion sermon, described the beginning of the work in Em- 
bury's domicile, and its advance to a hired room, the expense 
of which was paid by voluntary contributions. " About this 
time," says Bangs, in that discourse, " this small society re- 
ceived an increase of strength by the gospel labors of Cap- 



captain webb's preaching 



81 



tain Webb, of the British army. Appearing before the con- 
gregation in his military dress, the novelty of his appearance 
and the pathos and vehemence with which he preached, so 
attracted the attention of the people that the room in which 
they assembled was soon found insufficient to contain those 
who wished to hear. Accordingly they rented a rigging-loft 
in William Street. Here they assembled for some time, 
while Mr. Embury continued to preach with much success. 
Captain Webb did not confine his gospel labors to New York, 
but he visited Long Island and Philadelphia, in which places 
he preached successfully. Through his occasional visits and 
the unremitted arid conscientious exertions of Mr. Embury in 
New York, the society flourished and increased in numbers. 
Persevering in their efforts to promote the present and future 
welfare of their fellow-men, this place also became insufficient 
to contain the people that assembled. They therefore began 
to think seriously of erecting a house of worship." 

Bangs further stated in this sermon that a subscription 
paper was issued, and that they applied " to the mayor of the 
city and to opulent citizens, explained to them their design, 
and from them they received liberal donations. Captain 
Webb also lent his influence to encourage them. Thus aided, 
they finally succeeded in erecting a house for God's worship, 
which occupied the place where this in which we are assem- 
bled stands." 

In the same discourse Bangs says the demolition of the 
first John Street Church began on May 13, 1817, and, on the 
22d of the same month, " the foundation sermon was 
preached " for the second edifice on that spot. 

Captain Webb's ministry, in the initial period of the 
movement in New York, was notable. " It was usual at that 
time," says an early writer, " for military men to wear on all 
occasions their regimental suit. To behold in the pulpit a 
preacher arrayed in a scarlet coat with splendid facings, hav- 
ing a sword, with the Bible before him, was one of those 
anomalies which the world, while it ridicules the person, can- 
not help admiring the boldness of the act. Captain Webb, 
by exciting curiosity, obtained hearers, many of whom, con- 



82 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



vinced by his eloquence, under the influence of divine grace, 
attached themselves to the society. Some of the first mem- 
bers still living remember well his animated manner, and 
speak in terms of high approbation of his blunt and em- 
phatic style. ' You must repent or be forever damned,' often 
resounded in the ears of the wicked, as his arm, fitted for 
wielding the sword, fell with violence upon the desk." * 

It is said Captain Webb lost an eye in a military engage- 
ment. " His figure was portly, his countenance commauding, 
and he usually wore across his forehead a black ribbon with 
a blind attached, to cover his wounded eye." 

Not only did Webb attract by the novelty of his soldierly 
aspect and bearing, but his doctrines were new, as the man- 
ner of their proclamation was vivid and forcible. He de- 
clared " point blank to the people," says Taylor to Wesley, 
"that all their knowledge and religion were not worth a rush 
unless their sins were forgiven and they had the witness of 
God's Spirit with theirs that they were the children of God. 
This strange doctrine, with some peculiarities in his person, 
obliged the society to look out for a larger place to preach in. 
They soon found a rigging-house, sixty feet in length and 
eighteen in breadth." 

This new centre of New York Methodism was in Cart 
and Horse Street, now William, near John Street. " They 
erected a desk and benches," says Peter Park, "and there 
held preaching on the Sabbath morning at six o'clock, and in 
the evening, and sometimes in week evenings. They all 
went to the English Episcopal Church on the Sabbath day at 
the regular hours and communed there. At this time 
Charles White and Richard Sause came over.t They joined 
the little society, and were very useful to them. Henry 
Newton also joined the Methodists, and was very useful 
at this time." 

* A Short Historical Account of the Early Society of Methodists established in 
the City of New York in the Year 1763. New York, 1824. This document dates 
the origin of the movement in New York three years earlier than the true date. It 
is anonymous. 

t Parks and Taylor disagree concerning the land whence White and Sause came. 
Taylor, in 1768, wrote Wesley that they came from Dublin ; Parks asserts they 
came from England. Wakeley in Lost Chapters says both were from Dublin. 



WEBB AND EMBURY 



83 



Captain Webb's residence was near Jamaica, Long Isl- 
and, among Mrs. Webb's relatives. Embury wrought as a 
mechanic, but he also labored " in Word and Doctrine." By 
his preaching and his other services he nourished the young- 
society. Webb it is said preached occasionally on the 
heights of Brooklyn. He also began to preach in his house 
and elsewhere on Long Island, where his appeals were suc- 
cessful. " Within six months," says Taylor to Wesley, 
" about twenty-four persons received justifying grace, nearly 
half of them whites, the rest negroes. While Mr. Webb was 
— to borrow his own phrase — ' felling trees on Long Island,' 
brother Embury was exhorting all who attended on Thurs- 
day evenings and Sundays, morning and evening, at the rig- 
ging-house, to flee from the wrath to come. His hearers be- 
gan to increase, and some gave heed to his report, about the 
time the gracious Providence of God brought me safe to New 
York after a very favorable passage of six weeks from Ply- 
mouth. It was the twenty-sixth day of October [1767] when 
I arrived, recommended to a person for lodging. I inquired 
of my host, who was a very religious man, if any Methodists 
were in New York. He answered that there was one Captain 
Webb, a very strange sort of man, who lived on Long Island, 
and who sometimes preached at one Embury's at the rigging- 
house. In a few days I found out Embury. I soon found of 
what spirit he was, and that he was personally acquainted 
with you and your doctrines, and that he had been a helper 
in Ireland. He had formed two classes, one of the men and 
the other of the women, but had never met the society apart 
from the congregation, although there were six or seven men 
and as many women who had a clear sense of their accept- 
ance in the Beloved. 

" Mr. Embury lately has been more zealous than for- 
merly ; the consequence of which is that he is more lively in 
preaching, and his gifts as well as graces are much increased. 
Great numbers of serious persons come to hear God's word 
as for their lives. Their numbers increased so fast that our 
house, for six weeks past, would not contain half the people." 

Thus through the eyes of a personal witness we see the 



84 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



zealous work and the signal success of the primitive Wes- 
leyans of New York. The notable progress of the movement, 
as reported to Mr. Wesley in the spring of 1768 by Taylor, 
seems to have entered into the Methodist traditions in New 
York ; for the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper appended to the manu- 
script of Peter Parks's " True Statement " these statements, 
to wit : " The rigging-loft became too small to contain the 
crowded congregation which attended, which led them to a 
consultation and an arrangement to provide a larger place. 
A subscription was opened for the purpose of building a 
preaching-house, and they met with such encouragement 
from sundry liberal subscribers that they bought a few ad- 
joining lots on John Street on which they proceeded to build 
the first Methodist preaching-house in America, where the 
present John Street Church now stands." 

In the consultations which were held by the society con- 
cerning what provision should be made for the people 
that thronged within and about the " rigging-loft," Embury 
proposed renting a site for twenty-one years and erecting 
thereon a wooden tabernacle. An agreement was made for a 
lot, and a lease thereof was about to be executed when re- 
course was had to fasting and prayer for "two several days" 
that Divine direction might be obtained and that the pro- 
posed advance might be attended with the blessing of God. 
Then occurred an unexpected event. A Christian young 
man, who was not a member of the society, but a constant 
worshipper in the rigging - loft, offered to contribute ten 
pounds toward buying a site for a chapel. He waited 
upon a lady who owned two lots and got the terms on which 
she would sell them. The price — six hundred pounds — 
would on approved security be permitted to rest as a debt 
thereon. On the ground was a house which rented for eigh- 
teen pounds a year. Again they sought guidance through 
prayer. Then a decision was reached to buy the premises. 
The house became the parsonage which appears in the pict- 
ures of the original church edifice. It " was a building in the 
antique taste of the Dutch." Dr. Stevens erred in the state- 
ment in his " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church " 



ERECTION OF THE NEW YORK CHAPEL 



85 



that " a parsonage adjacent to the chapel was built in 1770." 
Eight men, as we have seen, became the joint purchasers of 
the property. The locality was known as Golden Hill, " a 
rising ground near the borders of the city, now named 
John Street." A new conveyance was made, as we shall, 
hereafter see, in 1770, by which the eight men ceased to hold 
the property and it was placed in fee-simple in the posses- 
sion of the Methodists. 

The movement of the young society to build a house of 
worship was the occasion of an outbreak of opposition. 
" Before we began to talk of building," wrote Taylor to Wes- 
ley, " the devil and his children were very peaceable ; but 
since, many have cursed us in the name of the Lord, and 
labored to stop congregations from assisting us. But He 
that sitteth in the heavens laughed them to scorn. Many 
have broken through and given their friendly assistance. 
We have collected above one hundred pounds more than our 
own contributions and have reason to hope on the whole we 
shall have two hundred pounds." 

The earnest Methodists of New York, after prayer for the 
Divine guidance and blessing, humbly but boldly advanced 
in their arduous enterprise of building a temple for God. 
" Providence favored Methodism too much to allow of its fail- 
ure. The situation of the inhabitants of New York in relig- 
ious matters was somewhat peculiar. A professed infidel 
dare not show himself. Open Atheism was known as a 
monster of European production. The Catholics whom fort- 
une had cast upon these shores were obliged to hide their 
rites under a mask of thorough concealment. Nearly every- 
body belonged to some sect, and indifference was viewed 
with utter dislike. Even the troops that paraded on a Sun- 
day morning, in marching down Broadway, filed off to the 
right or left, some to one church and some to another. All 
were religious, or pretended to be so ; while the laws, taking 
an immediate interest in affairs of conscience, required the 
strictest attention to the established forms of worship. 

" In what light then must the Methodists have been re- 
garded, who, boldly throwing aside the shackles of prejudice 



86 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



and hereditary customs, pursued a direct path to Heaven, 
and defied the most despotic of all laws, that which attempts 
to bind men's consciences ? They were ridiculed and hated, 
but despised they could not be ; for mankind, where they f ear 
the reproofs which an amiable character can cast upon their 
follies, are never capable of real disdain how much soever 
they may feign it. Dreading the influence of their incontro- 
vertible doctrines it required all the art of parents to keep 
their unprejudiced children from what they deemed a spir- 
itual contagion. An old member of the church relates to 
this day the desire he entertained in his youth of finding a 
truly religious people, tells the difficulty he met with in es- 
caping the threats of his family ; of his resorting secretly up 
the winding stairs where Embury used to preach, and his 
listening there with great delight to all the truths of the 
Gospel. 

" Messrs. Lupton, Sause, Newton, White, Jarvis, and a 
few more, were the persons most engaged in erecting the first 
Methodist Church in America. Of these, William Lupton, a 
very respectable merchant, proved himself the chief agent 
and support, whose maxim, it is said, was, ' The church first, 
and then my family.' They purchased materials and con- 
tracted for the building in their own names and upon their 
individual securities. The dimensions were forty-two feet 
wide by sixty feet long. The fire of opposition raged tre- 
mendously against the rising edifice. Its enemies loudly 
predicted its downfall. Pamphlets were published and dis- 
courses delivered in order to frustrate its completion."^ 

In this time of its exigence the struggling society was 
fortunate in having a member who held an influential posi- 
tion in the city as a citizen, a merchant, and a man of prop- 
erty, namely, William Lupton. He united his fortunes with 
it early. Joseph Pilmoor says the original American Meth- 
odists " after some time were joined by William Lupton, 
a gentleman of considerable property in New York, and not 
long after by Mr. Thomas Webb, who became a preacher 
among them." Now, according to the historical sketch in 

* A Short Historical Account of the Early Methodist Society in New York. 



WILLIAM LUPTOX'S IMPOETATsT WORK 



87 



the Methodist Episcopal Discipline, Webb came in the year 
of the society's origin. Therefore if Lupton was in it before 
him he must have joined it in the early months of its exist- 
ence. 

Mr. Lupton was zealously devoted to the movement. His 
presence, piety, and means gave confidence to its adherents 
and emboldened them to undertake the erection of a chapel. 
As we have seen, he was one of eight members who jointly 
bought the site, and, except Webb, he was the only man 
whose financial position gave to the project a warrant of suc- 
cess. Without him it may be doubted whether it would then 
have been accomplished. The New York Methodists, rich in 
faith but poor in purse, leaned on Lupton and Webb in their 
arduous work of erecting a sacred edifice, whereby the Wes- 
ley an cause was established permanently in New York. The 
courage which their devotion and liberality gave to their 
brethren at this critical juncture is illustrated by Thomas 
Taylor in his letter of 1768, to Mr. Wesley, in which he de- 
clares they had reason to hope " in the whole we shall have 
two hundred pounds ; but the house will cost us four hun- 
dred pounds more, so that unless God is pleased to raise up 
friends we shall yet be at a loss. I believe Mr. Webb and 
Mr. Lupton will borrow or advance two hundred pounds 
rather than the building should not go forward." 

The subscription for the erection of the John Street 
Chapel, a copy of which still exists in "the Old Book," shows 
that Captain Thomas Webb put his signature at its top and 
appended thereto the sum of thirty pounds. The next name 
on the subscription is that of William Lupton, which stands 
for twenty pounds. A second time the same name appears 
in the document with an additional contribution of ten 
pounds, which makes Lupton's total subscription equal to 
that of Webb's, namely, thirty pounds. Dr. Stevens incor- 
rectly says Webb's contribution was the largest sum by one- 
third given by any one person.* He must have failed to 
note that Lupton's name occurs twice in the list of contribu- 
tors. Dr. Wakeley, in " Lost Chapters," states what " the Old 

* Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, vol. i., p. 63. 



88 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



Book " attests, that Mr. Lupton " not only gave his money and 
time, but lie also lent the infant church in 1768 one hundred 
and ninety pounds." 

The humble Methodists who began their great work of 
rearing a Wesleyan temple in New York with fasting and 
prayer, were sustained amid discouraging hindrances and 
hostile demonstrations by the assurance with which at Jeru- 
salem Nehemiah emboldened his workmen : " Our God will 
fight for us." The hearts of many were turned kindly and 
generously toward their sacred project. Many citizens, in- 
cluding several clergymen of the Church of England, mem- 
bers of the medical and legal professions, and gentlemen of 
station and wealth, contributed to the funds for the edifice. 
Yet the work was difficult. Thomas Bell, a mechanic, who 
worked on the building, wrote, May 13, 1769, that "they were 
soon put to it in building their house. They made several 
collections about the town for it, and they went to Phila- 
delphia and got part of the money there." 

This first material fortification of Methodism in America 
was monumental of a splendid victory over adverse conditions 
and forces, won by a feeble band who counted all things but 
loss for Christ. The report of their victory spread afar. 
The parent Methodism heard it and was glad. The eyes of 
Wesley were attracted to the new fortress of the advancing 
and triumphing cause of which he was the human leader ; 
and prayers in its behalf and thanksgivings ascended from 
the English Conference to the skies. The effects of that 
achievement are visible all about this great land and have 
reached to other lands and continents. 

The new chapel which, amid prayer, toil, self-denial, and 
faith, had risen, was for some years unfinished. " The 
gallery had no breastwork nor any stairs to ascend it ; boys 
would mount by a ladder and sit upon the platform. The 
lower part for a long time had only benches without even a 
back. So homely was the place where the Almighty deigned 
to show forth his power." * 

A law of the colony did not permit dissenters to worship 

* Young's History of Methodism, p. 239. 



DEDICATION OF THE JOHN STREET CHAPEL 89 

in a church. To elude this obstacle the Methodists built a 
fireplace in their new chapel, which gave it the rank of a 
dwelling. " The walls were constructed of ballast stone and 
the face was covered with a light-blue plaster. It was com- 
pleted in the most substantial manner. Wesley's Chapel, as 
they called it, bore, upon the whole, an appearance as plain 
and simple as the lives of its projectors." 

The edifice was formally opened on the thirtieth day of 
October, 1768. It is said that the pulpit from which Philip 
Embury preached on that occasion was made by himself, who, 
like the Founder of Christianity, was a carpenter.* 

* It is a notable fact that Embury, the founder of Methodism in the North, and 
Strawbridge, its founder in the South, were both, according to published researches, 
house-builders. 



CHAPTEE VII. 



FROM THE OPENING OF WESLEY'S CHAPEL IN NEW YORK TO THE 
APPOINTMENT OF PILMOOR AND BOARD MAN. 

There is no evidence which invalidates the tradition that 
Wesley's Chapel in New York was the first Methodist Chapel 
in America. In the Methodist Quarterly Beview, July, 1856, 
the Eev. Dr. William Hamilton says the first church of the 
American Methodists was in Maryland. Of this, however, he 
offers no proof. Lednum, in his "History of the Eise of 
Methodism in America," asserts the same, but fails to sup- 
port the assertion by evidence. Bishop McTyeire also favors 
the same claim in his " History of Methodism." 

If it were a fact, and known, that the first Methodist so- 
ciety in Maryland was anterior to Embury's society at the 
mouth of the Hudson, nothing would be settled thereby con- 
cerning which first reared a church edifice. That is a separate 
question altogether. 

The oldest document which casts any light upon it is the 
Journal of the Eev. Joseph Pilmoor. He was in Maryland 
in June, 1772, and on the sixth day thereof he went to the 
home of Eichard Dallam, which he describes as " most beau- 
tifully situated on a branch of the Chesapeake." 

The Chesapeake Bay at its nearest point to Pipe Creek is a 
considerable distance from it ; and it is said by Lee and others 
that the first chapel built in Strawbridge's field was near 
Pipe Creek, but in reality, as we shall soon see, it was close 
to Sam's Creek. It is doubtful whether there is now a possi- 
bility of determining the true site of that primitive edifice. 
It was early taken down or removed, and was appropriated 
to the uses of a barn. With the exception of that contained 
in a short manuscript found among the papers of the late Dr. 



PILMOOR'S RIDE TO A NEW CHAPEL IN MARYLAND 91 

Eobert Emory, I have not discovered any description of the 
house written by anyone, since Asbury, who had seen it where 
it originally stood. Its size was twenty by twenty feet. 

The home of Dallam, to which Pilmoor went on Satur- 
day, June 6, 1772, in company with Eobert Williams, was, 
however, not located upon the Chesapeake, but " upon a 
branch of the Chesapeake." Therefore it may have been 
nearer to " the Log Meeting-House," by several miles than 
was any point directly upon the bay. At any rate, Pilmoor 
passed the Saturday night at Richard Dallam's, and the next 
day he went to " a new chapel," which evidently was a con- 
siderable distance from the house where he slept, for he wrote : 
" Sunday, June 7. — Rose early in the morning finely refreshed 
with balmy sleep and happy in the favor of God. After break- 
fast we set off for the new chapel, which a number of planters 
have lately built for the Methodists, where we found a large 
congregation waiting for us." Two or three things should 
here be noticed : First, Pilmoor, on this particular morning, 
rose early. Wesley's preachers are understood to have been 
early risers ; and certainly Pilmoor was such, for he was ac- 
customed frequently to preach at five o'clock in the morning, 
as we shall soon see ; but his having in this instance men- 
tioned the fact of his early awakening indicates that it was 
especially early, or, why should he have noted it ? Second, 
*' After breakfast " he " set off." It is inferred that it was an 
early breakfast, as he rose so early. Third, The congregation 
was waiting for him. The time of his arrival is not indicated 
and we do not know at what hour of the day it was the custom 
then to begin Methodist meetings in Maryland, but a little 
later, in the Southern country, the Methodists began their 
worship at noon. In November, 1784, Dr. Coke wrote in the 
portion of his Journal which was published in the Philadel- 
phia Arminian Magazine, that the Methodists observed as the 
" general time of preaching throughout the whole continent, 
except the large towns, the middle of the day, even upon 
week-days." If the appointed hour of the service was at 
or approximate to noon, and the audience had gathered be- 
fore Pilmoor's arrival, it clearly follows that he rode many 



92 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



miles before lie came to the chapel. Apparently a Meth- 
odist preacher, upon a good horse, might have reached the 
famous " Log Meeting-House " at Sam's Creek, and preached 
there on the first Sunday in June, 1772, notwithstanding he 
slept the preceding night at Eichard Dallam's home " on a 
branch of the Chesapeake." 

Moreover, Pilmoor says this chapel was " new " and also 
that it was but " lately built." John Street Chapel in New 
York had then been occupied by the society three years and 
seven months. 

At the time Pilmoor preached at the " new chapel," there 
does not appear to have been more than one Methodist 
preaching-house in Maryland. Three weeks subsequently 
he was at a " new chapel" in the same province, but it seems 
likely it was the one to which he went from Mr. Dal- 
lam's house on June 7th. This second time he appears to 
have gone from the region of Deer Creek, and this time also 
he started " early." Under the date of June 28, 1772, he 
writes : " We set off early in the morning for a new chapel, 
where we found four times as many people as it would con- 
tain." This early start indicates that he travelled a good 
many miles before he came to his destination. I think the 
inference is fair that the " new chapel" which he visited June 
7th, was identical with the one for which he set out " early 
in the morning " of June 28th, exactly three weeks later. If 
the chapel to which he went on both occasions was the same, 
then it is the only one mentioned by him as then standing in 
Maryland. It is reasonable, therefore, to suppose that it was 
the first Methodist house of worship which was built in the 
province. If so, it was then " new " and " lately built ; " and 
therefore was of later construction than Wesley's Chapel in 
New York. Should it, however, be claimed that the chapel 
where Pilmoor preached on June 28, 1772, was not the chapel 
to which he went from Eichard Dallam's on the 7th of 
the same month, no point would be made for the antecedence 
of the Maryland sanctuary ; for if at the first visit of Pilmoor 
to Maryland there were two chapels within its borders then 
both were " new." 



i 



THE FIRST CHAPEL IN MARYLAND 



93 



Above two years prior to this time lie first saw the preach- 
ing-house in New York, yet in his Journal he did not designate 
it as " new," though it was opened for worship by Embury 
less than seventeen months before Pilmoor first looked upon 
it. But the chapel in Maryland, to which he went June 7, 
1772, was, he says, " the new chapel which a number of planters 
have lately built for the Methodists." The one to which he 
went on the 28th of the same month was also, he asserts "a 
new chapel." If, as I suppose, they were the same, he at 
each visit described it as " new." If they were not the same 
then both were "new," and as Pilmoor mentions no other 
Methodist house of worship in Maryland, it is but just to as- 
sume that the " new " chapel or chapels then there did not 
precede the edifice in John Street, New York, which was 
well advanced in its fourth year. 

Six months, lacking one day, after Pilmoor's first visit to 
the "new chapel" Asbury was at a "preaching-house" in 
Maryland. Pilmoor was there in warm, Asbury in cold, 
weather, but the place in each instance probably was the same. 
Asbury mentions ho other "preaching-house" in Maryland at 
that time. Of this one in his Journal on Lord's day, Decem- 
ber 6, 1772, he says : " Went about five miles to preach in 
our first preachirig-house. The house had no windows or 
doors ; the weather was very cold, so that my heart pitied the 
people when I saw them so exposed. Putting a handkerchief 
over my head I preached, and after an hour's intermission — 
the people waiting all the time in the cold — I preached again." 

This chapel Asbury described as " our first preaching- 
house." There is no warrant for assuming that by this phrase 
he meant that it was the first "preaching-house" in America. 
Bather, as he was then in Maryland, probably his design was 
to speak of it as the first Methodist house of worship which 
was built in that province. Should it be said the phrase 
" our first preaching-house " implied a second house, it may 
be replied that in the half year which had passed since Pil- 
moor first visited the new chapel another edifice might, possi- 
bly, have been raised. 

The Kev. Dr. Kobert Emory, who was president of Did:- 



94 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



inson College and the author of a " History of the Disci- 
pline," also was an explorer of data relating to the rise and 
progress of Methodism in Maryland. He was familiar with 
the locality and its people. He collected valuable documents 
relating to the early history of the Wesleyan movement in 
that State. He had gathered much material for the Life of 
Bishop Asbury, which he began but did not complete. One 
of the manuscript documents which he left among his papers 
was a description of the Log Meeting-House, apparently fur- 
nished by one who well remembered it. Dr. Emory gave his 
attestation to the authenticity of this account of the first 
Methodist house of worship in Maryland by incorporating its 
facts into his unfinished " Life of Asbury." I will now re- 
produce the account from the original manuscript, still ex- 
tant : " The old log-buildiug occupied by Mr. Strawbridge as 
a preaching-house stood at the head of a small drain that 
runs into Sam's Creek in about the distance of half a mile. 
It is said in Wesley's Life, Pipe Creek, but it is Sam's Creek. 
It i was built of hewed logs, the whole raised and covered. 
Sleepers were put in, which were the only seats belonging to 
it. The doors and windows were cut out and faced, but 
there was no pulpit. There a society was raised. The first 
members there, as far as I know, were John Evans, Andrew 
Poulson, Benjamin Marcarel, and John England." Signed 
"L. B." or "Z. B." 

The writer of this description perhaps was Mrs. Bennett, 
a daughter of " John Evans, one of Strawbridge's first con- 
verts," who was yet living when, in 1856, Dr. Hamilton pub- 
lished his article on Early Methodism in Maryland, and she 
had then attained to the great age of eighty-eight. 

The above description accords with the statement made by 
Asbury, namely, that " our first preaching-house " in Mary- 
land, where he delivered two sermons in the cold of Decem- 
ber, 1772, " had no windows or doors." 

Dr. Emory says in a manuscript he left that the old Log 
Meeting-House " was certainly not built later than 1772, and 
probably not before." 

There was a circumstance mentioned by Asbury, and two 



WAS IT THE LOG MEETING-HOUSE? 



95 



similar ones which Pilnioor noted when he was at the "new 
chapel," namely, that after an hour's intermission, the people 
meanwhile remaining, a second sermon was preached. Pil- 
moor shall describe both the occasions of his ministry at the 
new chapel in the month of June, 1772. 

On June 7th he says : " Kose early in the morning finely 
refreshed with balmy sleep and happy in the favor of God. 
After breakfast we set off for the new chapel, which a number 
of planters have lately built for the Methodists, where we 
found a fine congregation waiting for us. I retired in the 
woods a few moments for secret prayer and then our wor- 
ship began. After the first service ivas over toe waited about 
an hour and then began again. Mr. Williams preached and 
the people were deeply affected." At his next visit to 
what I assume was the same chapel, and which was three 
w r eeks later, namely, June 28, 1772, Pilnioor says : " We set 
off early in the morning for a new chapel, where we found 
four times as many people as it would contain. So they 
made me a place in the wood, and I stood beneath the 
spreading branches of a stately oak, and called the multi- 
tude to the gospel Bethesda— the Spiritual House of Mercy, 
where all that come may obtain a perfect cure of all their 
diseases. After pr caching ivas over the people ivere unioilling 
to go away, so I told them if they ivoidd tvait till I had got a 
little refreshment I woidd give them another discourse : so I 
stepped to a cottage at a small distance and got a dish of 
tea, and then returned to the wood, where I found most of 
the people waiting. I preached again, and was particularly 
owned and blessed of God." Now the fact of the people 
waiting until they heard a second sermon on both the oc- 
casions when Pilmoor preached at " the new chapel " in the 
summer of 1772, and the further circumstance of their staying 
in the cold at " our first preaching-house " when Asbury was 
there in the following winter until, after the lapse of an hour, 
he preached to them again, apparently support the presump- 
tion that all those events occurred at the same place, which 
could hardly have been any other than " the Log Meeting- 
House." We conclude that as it was then but " lately built," 



96 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



it did not precede the erection of the John Street Chapel in 
the city of New York. 

This conclusion accords with the earliest traditions. 
Jesse Lee, the careful historian, who preached in Maryland 
in 1787, says : " The first Methodist meeting-house that 
was built in the United States was that in New York." * 
Ezekiel Cooper, who was reared in Maryland, and who 
began his ministry there in 1784 ; who preached much 
within its borders in the early times ; who was personally 
acquainted with many of the primitive preachers who trav- 
elled there, and who was stationed in New York City twenty- 
six years after the John Street Church was built ; recorded, 
as we have seen, with his own hand, upon the manu- 
script of Peter Parks's " True Statement" the declaration 
that the New York Methodists " proceeded to build the first 
Methodist preaching-house in America where the present 
John Street Church now stands." In his work on Asbury, 
Cooper says the New York " society increased in numbers, in 
friends, and in strength, so that in the year 1768 they began 
to build the first Methodist chapel in America." 

Dr. Coke came hither several times and labored exten- 
sively in this country prior to 1792, when he and Mr. Moore 
published their " Life of Wesley." Therein it is declared 
(page 449) that the " chapel in New York was the first chapel 
in Mr. Wesley's connection in America." 

The Rev. Henry Smith was a native of Frederick County, 
Md., and familiar with the locality of Strawbridge's labors 
and with people who well knew him. Smith was licensed to 
preach in Frederick circuit in 1793. In his " Recollections 
and Reflections of an Old Itinerant " (p. 205), he says : "In 
the summer of 1820 I rode some miles in company with 
Bishop McKendree to see the place where a meeting-house 
had been built for Mr. Strawbridge. Some of the logs were 
still there and sound. This was the first meeting-house in 
Maryland and the second in America." Thus it is established 
by primitive testimony that John Street Chapel was antece- 
dent to the Log Meeting-House. 

* History of the Methodists, p. 25. 



METHODISM IN PHILADELPHIA 



97 



The assumption that the new chapel to which Pilmoor 
went in June, 1772, was the Log Meeting-House of Straw- 
bridge has received possible corroboration in an article on 
" Methodist Shrines in Maryland," by the Kev. Lucien Clark, 
D.D., published in the New York Christian Advocate, Sep- 
tember 6, 1894. Dr. Clark, in speaking of his recent visit to 
the Strawbridge neighborhood, says : "A majestic oak un- 
der which Mr. Strawbridge frequently preached is pointed 
out. It sends out its vigorous branches in every direction, 
affording an ample shade under which two hundred persons 
might assemble." Pilmoor says there were " four times as 
many people " on June 28, 1772, at the new chapel " as it 
would contain. So they made me a place in the wood, and I 
stood beneath the spreading branches of a stately oak, and 
called the people to the gospel Bethesda." 

After the dedication of the preaching-house in New York 
by Embury, October 30, 1768, he continued to preach and oth- 
erwise to serve the society until the first English preachers, 
regularly sent hither by Mr. Wesley, arrived. We get but few 
glimpses of the work there from the date of the opening of 
the chapel until Pilmoor began his first term of service in 
the latter end of March, 1770. 

Captain Webb was a bold and aggressive soldier of 
Christ. We have seen that soon after he joined Embury in 
New York City he began to preach on Long Island. Then we 
find him in Philadelphia, where he founded Methodism. He 
preached in a sail-loft " near the drawbridge which then spanned 
Dock Creek at Front Street on the Delaware River." * 

The dates of Webb's first visits to Philadelphia are ob- 
scure. In a biographical sketch of Mr. John Hood, by the 
Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Sargeant, which was printed in the 
New York Christian Advocate, in March, 1829, it is said that 
in 1767 or 1768 Webb formed the first class in Philadelphia, 
of which Hood was a member. Thomas Bell, a Methodist 
mechanic, in a letter dated May 13, 1769, and published 
in the London Arminian Magazine, in 1807 (pages 45, 46), 
says the Methodists of New York obtained part of the 

* Lednum : Rise of Methodism, p. 40. 



98 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEKICA 



money for their preaching-house in Philadelphia. Bell him- 
self, as the subscription list shows, contributed to the build- 
ing fund, and he also says he worked upon the structure 
six days. " The Old Book " also attests that contributions 
for the edifice were received from Philadelphia through 
Webb at a later date. If, in 1768, he obtained money in that 
city for the New York chapel, it is pretty clear there were 
Methodists in Philadelphia in that year, and probably earlier. 

Dr. Wrangle, from Sweden, preached for some time in 
Philadelphia. In his memoir of Hood, Sargeant says that 
about the time Webb appeared there Wrangle was recalled 
by his government. On his return to Sweden he met Mr. 
Wesley in England. Wesley says he dined with Wrangle, 
October 14, 1768, and adds : " His heart seemed to be 
greatly united to the American Christians, and he strongly 
pleaded for our sending some of our preachers to help them." 
Four days later Wesley, in his Journal, says : " Dr. Wrangle 
preached in the new room to a crowded audience, and gave 
general satisfaction by the simplicity and life which accom- 
panied his sound doctrine." 

Sargeant says Hood applied to Dr. Wrangle for religious 
counsel, and was advised by him to make an associate of 
a young man named Lambert Wilmer, who was an attend- 
ant of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia. Hood 
took Wrangle's advice, aud the two young men formed a 
close friendship, which lasted throughout their lives. By 
the request of both they were interred in the same grave. 
Sargeant further says that Wrangle wrote to Hood, Wilmer, 
and other of his pious friends in Philadelphia, in high com- 
mendation of Mr. Wesley and his economy, and sent them 
some of Wesley's writings ; and also advised them to join the 
Methodists, should a society be formed in Philadelphia. 

According to these data, Dr. Wrangle seems not to have 
known of a Methodist society in Philadelphia when he re- 
moved therefrom ; and, as he was with Wesley in England 
in the middle of October, 1768, Webb probably did not 
formally organize Methodism in Philadelphia prior to that 
year. Lednum dates its origin there in the year 1768. 



WILMER AND HOOD IN PHILADELPHIA 



99 



Its beginning in Philadelphia, as in New York, was small. 
The first society was composed of only seven members. 
Among these were Hood and Wilmer. Both continued 
there in the fellowship of Methodism for over a half-cen- 
tury. They witnessed its early struggles and also its vic- 
torious progress over the land. When they joined the Meth- 
odists probably there were fewer than two hundred members 
in the American provinces. When Hood was laid with Wil- 
mer in their common grave, the Wesley an movement had 
become a powerful evangelical force, whose ecclesiastical lines 
extended to the frontiers of the republic, and embraced nearly 
a half-million of communicants. 

Wilmer and Hood were worthy representatives of the 
cause to which they gave their youthful ardor and their ma- 
ture strength. Hood, especially, was a notable character. 
Of most amiable temper and truly devout, he enjoyed the 
confidence and esteem of the young society in Philadelphia 
to such a degree that, in 1770, at the age of twenty-one years, 
he was appointed Class Leader. For nearly threescore 
years he continued in that useful office. James Emerson 
was the first leader of the Philadelphia society. Hood was 
licensed to preach by the Rev. Caleb B. Pedicord, in 1783, 
and was an acceptable and useful local preacher. The cele- 
brated Dr. Rush, according to Sargeant, once told the lat- 
ter " he heard Hood preach on ' Quench not the Spirit,' and 
thought it a much better discourse than many he had heard 
from college - bred ministers ; that he appeared to under- 
stand well the figure used by the apostle, and illustrated 
and enforced it with fine effect." He preached abroad in 
the region of Philadelphia, and was successful in originating 
a number of societies. 

Hood had a good voice, and was a leader of song in the 
sanctuary. He sang with the spirit and understanding, and 
his face glowed with joy as he bore the people with him in 
melodious worship. His end was triumphant. He rejoiced 
in his Redeemer. " Oh, He is my life and my all," he ex- 
claimed. " I feel Him in my heart." He said : " How I 
long to be with Him. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." 



100 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

The last word caught from the lips of this primitive Meth- 
odist as he expired was " Heaven ! " He departed February 
24, 1829, in his eightieth year. 

From the formation of the society until the arrival of Pil- 
moor and Boardman, in the fall of 1769, we are without infor- 
mation as to the labors of Webb in Philadelphia. In a letter 
he there wrote to Mr. Wesley, October 31, 1769, Pilmoor 
says : " We were not a little surprised to find Captain Webb 
in town, and a society of about a hundred members, who 
desire to be in close connection with you." This indicates 
that after planting the Wesley an vine in " the City of Broth- 
erly Love," Webb did not cease carefully and efficiently to 
nourish it. 

Of the work of Strawbridge in Maryland at this period 
we get only a glimpse or two. Webb had extended his work 
into Delaware. He came thence to Pilmoor, in Philadel- 
phia, in the fall of 1769, as a bearer of thrilling news. On 
November 4th of this year, Pilmoor says : " Captain Webb 
came on from Wilmington, where he had been for a few days 
on a visit, and brought us tidings that Jesus the Great Shep- 
herd had blessed his labors in the gospel and made them 
successful in turning men from darkness unto light and from 
the power of Satan unto God. The work of God begun by 
him and Mr. Strawbridge, a local preacher from Ireland, soon 
spread through the greater part of Baltimore County, and 
several hundreds of people were brought to repentance and 
turned unto the Lord." A fair interpretation of this passage 
would warrant the conclusion that Captain Webb was at work 
with Strawbridge in Maryland at or near the beginning of 
the movement there. I have found no trace elsewhere of the 
presence of Webb in western Maryland at so remote a date. 
Yet Pilmoor's statement, apparently made on Webb's author- 
ity, indicates that the ardent itinerating soldier had found 
the Maryland pioneer and united with him in gospel labors. 
The fact that in the first month of 1770 Strawbridge preached 
in Philadelphia, is a corroborative circumstance. 

According to Pilmoor there were converts in Maryland 
at least as early as 1768. In a reference to the appeal from 



FRUITS OF STRAWBRIDGE' S MINISTRY 101 

New York for laborers, which, as he states, was laid before 
the Wesleyan Conference at Bristol in that year, he mentions 
the work of Strawbridge. He says : " These " — that is, the 
Methodists in New York — " together with a few people in 
Maryland who had lately been awakened under the ministry 
of Robert Strawbridge, sent a pressing call to the British 
Conference in 1768, entreating us to send over some preach- 
ers to help them." If, as Pilmoor seems to say, Webb was 
associated with Strawbridge at the beginning of the Meth- 
odist movement in Maryland, which "soon spread through 
the greater part of Baltimore County," it is easy to account 
for the tidings thereof reaching Wesley in 1768. Webb 
probably personally knew Wesley, and it is known that he 
wrote to him concerning the work in America. In 1772 he 
stood before the British Conference pleading for preachers 
for this land. 

Strawbridge, in this period of his career, sowed seed 
which produced a valuable harvest. Dr. Thomas E. Bond was 
widely and favorably known for a generation as a promoter 
of Methodism. For years, near to the middle of the nine- 
teenth century, he wielded potential influence as the adroit 
and powerful editor of the New York Christian Advocate. 
Dr. Bond has borne grateful testimony to the results of 
Strawbridge's ministry in Maryland. In the Journal he 
edited, of the issue of July 10, 1844, he declared that his 
" parents were both among the first-fruits of Mr. Straw- 
bridge's labors ; a man to whom they and their posterity 
have been so much indebted as an instrument of God, of 
such substantial good to them." Richard Owen, the first 
native Methodist preacher of Maryland, and, next to Edward 
Evans, the first who came forth in the American ranks, 
though Watters was before him in the itinerancy, was also 
one of the early trophies of the ministry of Strawbridge. 
Various others, through his early labors here, were brought 
into the Wesleyan fold and became stanch adherents and 
efficient propagators of Christianity, as taught by Methodism. 
But it is impossible to trace his work chronologically, because 
of the obscurity in which it is enveloped. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE ARRIVAL OF ROBERT WILLIAMS AND HIS MINISTRY IN 
AMERICA IN 1769. 

The first Wesleyan evangelist who came to the assistance 
of the Methodists in this country was Robert Williams. The 
precise time of his coming is not known, but it was as early 
as September, 1769, at least. It is highly probable that he 
reached America sometime in the summer of that year. His 
arrival was an opportune event for the struggling Wesleyan 
cause. 

Lee does not say at which American port Williams landed, 
but Stevens asserts that it was the port of New York. Thus 
he conflicts with Lee, who says that " as soon as Mr. Williams 
landed he went to New York." It is now clear that Stevens 
erred on this point, 

Williams was a heroic preacher, and from the day of his 
arrival in a. storm-bound ship at Norfolk, Virginia, he was a 
dauntless, tireless, and successful laborer in the American 
Wesleyan field. His character is finely indicated by what he 
did immediately after he landed. 

Among the valuable documents found among the papers 
of the Rev. Dr. Robert Emory is a manuscript of considera- 
ble age which contains the account of Williams's first night in 
America. He related the story himself to Mr. Josias Dallam, 
an early Methodist of Maryland, whose son, Dr. William M. 
Dallam, wrote it out in a vivid style. 

" The vessel in which he sailed to this country," says Dr. 
Dallam, " was bound to Baltimore, but the unfavorable weather 
obliged the crew to put into Norfolk. Mr. Williams was an 
entire stranger there. The letters he had brought with him 
were all addressed to persons in Philadelphia and Baltimore. 
Having had a long and boisterous passage, and been much 



WILLIAMS'S SIGNAL WORK AT NORFOLK 103 



confined below, he left the vessel soon after its arrival at the 
wharf, and with his Bible and hymn-book in his pocket pro- 
ceeded up the main street. It was the evening hour. He 
chanced to see a house shut up, and bearing on its door the 
familiar w T ords, traced in chalk, ' This house to let.' He as- 
cended its steps, took his hymn-book from his pocket and 
began to sing. This attracted the attention of the citizens, 
and many, as they passed and repassed, stopped to listen. 
After a considerable number had collected he knelt down 
and prayed for the prosperity of Norfolk, its citizens, and 
neighborhood. On rising from his knees he informed them 
whence he came, of his object in visiting America, and the 
circumstances which had placed him a stranger in their town ; 
and asked if there was any person present who would be 
hospitable enough to give him a night's lodging. A lady 
came forward and offered to take him home with her in her 
carriage. She lived a short distance in the country. He ac- 
cepted the invitation and accompanied her. She proved to 
be the wife of a respectable sea-captain who was then absent 
on a distant voyage. She entertained Mr. Williams very 
kindly, and when the hour for retiring to rest arrived he re- 
quested permission to have family prayer. The household 
assembled, and while he petitioned a throne of grace in their 
behalf, his hospitable entertainer was convicted and con- 
verted. 

" He prayed also for the conversion of her husband. That 
same night, on the far-off ocean, the captain for whom he 
prayed was singularly affected. Having retired to his berth 
as usual, he found it impossible to sleep, and his restlessness 
and uneasiness so increased that he rose, walked the deck, 
and then again lay down. Sleep still forsook his eyelids, and 
the second time he rose, alarmed for the safety of his ship, 
and unable to account for his peculiar feelings. He called to 
the mate and inquired if all was right. He was answered in 
the affirmative. It was a calm night and he feared his vessel 
had run aground, but soon discovered that such apprehensions 
were unfounded. A third time he retired, but his uneasiness 
and distress continued to increase. At last he fell upon his 



104 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



knees and began to pray most fervently. God vouchsafed an 
answer and converted his. soul. The circumstance was so re- 
markable that he noted it in his log-book, and on comparing 
dates when he arrived at home, he discovered that it occurred 
on the very night when Mr. Williams had offered his petitions 
for him. My father afterward accidentally became acquainted 
with the captain, and heard from him the same account that 
Mr. Williams had given him." 

Thus did this intrepid evangelist enter upon his arduous 
but glorious career in the New World. 

A brief record in "the Old Book" of a payment "for a 
hat for Mr. Williams," on September 20, 1769, shows that he 
had then been in New York. A society ticket issued there, 
bearing the signature of Robert Williams, and dated October 
1, 1769, is yet extant in the library of Drew Theological 
Seminary. His ministry in the city no doubt was an inspi- 
ration and a joy to the Wesley ans there, who were urgently 
calling to Mr. Wesley for preachers. 

We are told by Jesse Lee that Williams " had been a 
local preacher in England and received a permit from Mr. 
Wesley to preach in America under the direction of the reg- 
ular missionaries. Mr. Williams, however, was not sent over 
by Mr. Wesley. His coming to America was partly owing to 
temporal business, and withal, feeling a particular desire to 
preach the gospel in America, he had given his word to a 
Methodist man in Ireland that if he (Mr. Ashton) would come 
over to live in America he would accompany him across the 
Atlantic." * Lee further states that on his arrival Williams 
went to New York ; also that he visited Pilmoor in Philadel- 
phia, the first of November, 1769, and then went to Mary- 
land. 

The accuracy of Lee as a historian is herein illustrated. 
Pilmoor, in his Journal, at this time mentions Williams's visit 
to Philadelphia, and his statements show Lee to be in accord 
with the facts. Under date of November 1, 1769, Pilmoor 
writes : " Mr. Robert Williams called on me on his way from 
New York to Maryland. He came over to America about 

* History of the Methodists, pp. 26-7. 



WILLIAMS IN EUROPE 



105 



business, and being a local preacher in England, Mr. Wesley 
gave him a license to preach occasionally under the direction 
of the regular preachers." As Williams was personally pres- 
ent with Pilmoor, and at this time preached several sermons in 
Philadelphia, we infer that Pilmoor derived these particulars 
directly from him. Crook, in his work on " Ireland and the 
Centenary of American Methodism,'" says Williams was a 
travelling preacher at the time he came to America. Here 
then is a conflict of authorities. " The truth is," Crook 
says, " "Williams was not a lay evangelist, but an accredited 
member of the Irish Conference. He was taken out to travel 
at the Conference of 1766, and his name will be found for that 
year among the appointments as follows : ' Xorthwest (about 
Deny), John Johnston, James Morgan; Northeast (about 
Belfast and Coleraine), James Eea, Robert Williams' Under 
date of Friday, April 3, 1767, "Wesley writes : ' At the end 
of Dromore I met Robert Williams, who showed me the way 
to Newry.' In 1767 he was stationed at Castlebar, amid the 
wilds of Connaught, with William Pennington. At the Con- 
ference of 1768 he stands again for Castlebar thus : ' Castle- 
bar, W. Collins, R, W7 " * 

Joseph Pilmoor knew Robert Williams well, and so also 
did Jesse Lee. We learn from the biography of Lee that 
" Williams was the first of the Wesleyan preachers who vis- 
ited that part of Virginia where he resided. In the spring of 
the year 1774 Mr. Williams began to form societies in the 
neighborhood. It was then that Mr. Lee united himself to 
the society of the Methodists." t Lee himself in the preface 
to his History says that he became a member early in the 
spring of 1774. Thus it is clear that he had opportunities 
to gather facts concerning Williams's history. Ashton, with 
whom he crossed the Atlantic, was from Ireland, which in- 
dicates that Williams had been in that country. Besides 
he possibly had desisted from travelling a short time be- 
fore he emigrated to America. "Mr. Williams was an Eng- 
lishman, but not a travelling preacher at that time," says 

* Ireland and the Centenary of American Methodism, pp. 137-S. 
t Thrift's Memoirs of Lee, pp. 11-12. 



106 THE "WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Lee. He, however, may have travelled before " that time." 
Pilmoor says Williams was "a local preacher in England; " 
and also that Wesley "gave him a license to preach occa- 
sionally in America." Yet before this he may have been 
a travelling preacher, and returned to the local ranks. Thus 
the apparent conflict between Pilmoor and Lee on the one 
side ; and Crook on the other, respecting Williams's minis- 
terial status in Europe, might possibly be reconciled without 
invalidating the statements of either, if all the relevant facts 
could be brought into view. 

Concerning Williams's emigration to this country, Jesse 
Lee, in his " History of the Methodists " (page 7), gives 
the following account : " Mr. Williams was an Englishman, 
but not a travelling preacher at that time. At length he 
heard that Mr. Ashton had embarked for America, and ac- 
cording to his promise he hurried down to the town near 
where the ship lay, sold his horse to pay his debts, and 
taking his saddle-bags on his arm set off for the ship with a 
loaf of bread and a bottle of milk, and no money to pay his 
passage. His good friend Ashton provided for him and they 
came over together. As soon as Mr. Williams landed he 
went to New York, where he preached in Wesley's chapel 
before either of the other itinerant preachers came to that 
city. Although Mr. Williams had come to this country of 
his own accord, the preachers and people encouraged him in 
his labors in spreading the gospel. On the first of Novem- 
ber he visited Mr. Pilmoor in Philadelphia, and then went on 
to Maryland." He preached his last sermon for the time in 
Philadelphia, and set off for Maryland, November 6, 1769.. 
Pilmoor says he then was very sincere and zealous. 

We shall meet Mr. Williams frequently in the course of 
our narrative. We now approach an auspicious epoch in the 
progress of the young movement in America, the appoint- 
ment by the Rev. John Wesley of two itinerant preachers of 
the English Conference to this most fruitful field of the great 
spiritual and moral reformation called Methodism. 



SECOND PERIOD. 



Fkom the Appointment of Wesley's First Mis- 
sionaries to America to the Close of the First 
American Conference. 

CHAPTEK I. 

the appointment and arrival of boardman and pilmoor. 

A religious movement which began in weakness and ob- 
scurity but rapidly advanced to imposing magnitude, affect- 
ing in its progress the spiritual destinies of millions, and pro- 
moting the moral, social, political, and intellectual welfare of 
the greatest republic of the world, is an attractive subject for 
studious contemplation. 

The Wesley an Reformation which stirred England in the 
eighteenth century, was destined to find a larger scope and 
to win its greatest triumphs in the western hemisphere. 
Borne across the ocean by an emigrant ship, it was planted 
by a mechanic, who also had been a schoolmaster, as a frail, 
diminutive tree on the American shore. It so flourished that 
its luxuriant branches soon cast a benignant shadow over the 
territory of the Federal Union. Its roots have pierced the 
shores of distant isles and continents ; its trunk has grown 
lofty and massive, and it is now yielding its benign fruitage 
and its leaves of healing to heathen lands and to many nations. 

We now approach a period when the Wesleyan movement 
is to command wider recognition and to have a larger oppor- 
tunity in America. Of it and its founders here it might 
justly be said, according to St. Paul in the revised version : 
" God chose the foolish things of the world that he might 
put to shame them that are wise ; and God chose the weak 



108 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

things of the world that he might put to shame the things 
that are strong ; and the base things of the world and the 
things that are despised did God choose, yea, and the things 
that are not to bring to naught the things that are that no 
flesh should glory before God." 

While, in September, 1769, Eobert Williams was minister- 
ing to the society in New York, the Mary and Elizabeth, un- 
der the command of Captain Sparks, was sweeping westward 
over the Atlantic bearing two Wesleyan evangelists hither. 
The report of the work on these shores under Embury, 
Strawbridge, and Webb quickly reached England. Samuel, 
son of Philip Embury, recorded the assertion that his father 
not only built the preaching-house in New York but that he 
also wrote to Mr. Wesley asking him to send preachers there. 
Coke and Moore, in their " Life of Wesley," issued in 1792, 
assert that Captain Webb wrote a letter to Mr. Wesley 
earnestly importuning him to send missionaries to America. 
Wesley could not resist these appeals. Richard Boardman 
and Joseph Pilmoor are now about to connect their names 
imperishably with the fortunes of the Wesleyan section of 
Christianity in the New World. 

The condition and necessities of Methodism in New York 
were placed before Mr. Wesley by Thomas Taylor, in a letter 
written April 11, 1768. " I must," said Taylor, " importune 
your assistance not only in my own behalf, but also in the 
name of the whole society. We want an able and experienced 
preacher ; one who has both gifts and grace necessary for 
the work. God has not, indeed, despised the day of small 
things. There is a real work of grace begun in many hearts 
by the preaching of Mr. Webb and Mr. Embury. But al- 
though they are both useful and their hearts are in the work, 
they want many qualifications for such an undertaking and 
the progress of the gospel here depends much upon the qual- 
ifications of the preachers. If possible we must have a man 
of wisdom, of sound faith, and a good disciplinarian — one 
whose heart and soul are in the work ; and I doubt not, by 
the goodness of God, such a flame would soon be kindled as 
would never stop until it reached the great South Sea. Dear 



THE AMERICAN CALL REACHED ENGLAND IN 1768 109 



sir, I entreat you, for the good of thousands, to use your ut- 
most endeavors to send one over. With respect to money 
for the payment of the preacher's passage, if they could not 
procure it we would sell our coats and shirts to procure it for 
them. I most earnestly beg an interest in your prayers, and 
trust you and many of our brethren will not forget the church 
in this wilderness." 

This letter was written above four months prior to the 
assembling of the Wesley an Conference at Bristol, August 
16, 1768. It is certain that the importunate appeal for help 
was heard by that body. Pilmoor, as we have seen, says 
the New York Wesleyans, " together with a few people in 
Maryland who had lately been awakened under the ministry 
of Robert Strawbridge, sent a pressing call to the British 
Conference in 1768, entreating " that some preachers should 
be sent to them. He further says : " This was laid before 
the brethren and left to their consideration until the next 
Conference." 

None of the historians of the movement except Lockwood 
have referred to a disclosure to the British Conference in 
1768 of the needs of the cause on this side of the ocean. 
They do not intimate that the appeal for laborers reached 
that body until 1769. Pilmoor, however, explicitly asserts 
that the " pressing call " of the New York and Maryland 
Methodists was heard by the Conference which sat in Bris- 
tol, August 16-19, 1768. Wesley did not then see his way 
clear to send any preachers to America. Bather, he was 
moved to exclaim, " O what can we do for more laborers ? 
We can only cry to the Lord of the harvest." * Not only 
were the claims of the work at home urgent but it was not 
desirable that such a weighty movement should be under- 
taken without calm and prayerful forethought. Not having 
had their minds previously and specially turned to their 
beckoning transatlantic brethren, probably none of the preach- 
ers were ready to volunteer for the mission. The subject was 
left for them to ponder until the ensuing Conference. 

We do not know what immediate effect was produced 

* Mylds' Chronological History of the People called Methodists, p. 115. London. 



110 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



upon Kichard Boardman by the pleading call for help which 
came from over the Atlantic to the Conference of 1768. Jo- 
seph Pilmoor, however, did not forget the Macedonian cry. 
He has left a vivid record of his mental exercises following 
npon the introduction to the Conference of the American call 
for help. His field of labor was in Wales, and " during that 
year," he says, " which I spent chiefly in Pembrokeshire, I 
was frequently under great exercise of mind respecting the 
dear Americans, and found a willingness to sacrifice every- 
thing for their sakes." 

A fortnight after the adjournment of the Conference of 
1768, at which his* mind was turned toward this land, he, 
having fervent longings for full devotion to God, made a 
formal and written covenant of consecration. This covenant 
he signed less than a year before he embarked for Philadel- 
phia. Probably it was one of the steps which brought him 
hither. It illustrates the spiritual condition of the man who 
was now looking toward a possible period of service in behalf 
of the young Methodism of America. It was made in Pem- 
broke, South Wales, and is as follows : " Saturday, Septem- 
ber 3, 1768. Being deeply affected with a sense of the good- 
ness of God to my soul I was inclined to give myself up in a 
solemn covenant unto God, to be fully and forever His. 

" First. I do this day give up and devote my soul to Thee, 
O my God, to be altogether and forever thine. I submit my- 
self to Thy yoke and wait for Thy continual guidance in all 
things. Let all my thoughts be pure and holy. Let all my 
desires center in Thee, and all my affections be placed entire- 
ly upon thee. And in order to that do Thou, O my God, wean 
me from all my fondness for created enjoyments, and let me 
be entirely crucified unto the world and the world unto me. 

" Secondly. I offer up my body to be forever Thine. 
Therefore, I pray that Thou wouldst keep me from all pol- 
lution and defilement, and keep me chaste and clean as a 
temple for Thee ; that Thou mayst dwell forever in my heart 
and be glorified by my body and soul which are Thine. And 
at last raise me up from the dust of death to dwell among 
Thy saints in Glory. 



PILMOOR'S EXERCISES CONCERNING AMERICA 111 



" Thirdly. I hereby promise to spend all my time in Thy 
service and all my talents to Thy glory and honor. 

" Joseph Pilmoor." 

To this covenant he appended the following statement : 

" N. B. — The covenant mentioned above was of the ut- 
most advantage to me and generally kept for many years. 
Gratia Valabit. Blessed be God for Jesus Christ, my wis- 
dom, righteousness, and sanctification." * 

In this frame of sacred devotedness Pilmoor's inner ear 
was attent to the silent call of the Holy Spirit. Nerved by a 
new and signed dedication of his body, soul, time, and tal- 
ents to the Lord, he was courageous to dare the hardships of 
a missionary service in a new and distant land. " I was 
happy enough as to my situation and connexions," he says, 
" and met with the utmost encouragement from the people 
and from the preachers ; yet I could not be satisfied to con- 
tinue in Europe. A sense of duty so affected my mind, and 
my heart was drawn out with such longing desires for the 
advancement of the Redeemer's kiugdom, that I was made 
perfectly willing to forsake my kindred and native land, with 
all that was most near and dear to me on earth, that I might 
spread abroad the honors of His glorious Name. But being- 
afraid lest I should be mistaken and follow my own will and 
inclinations rather than the spirit and the call of God, I re- 
solved to mention it to Mr. Wesley and the preachers in Con- 
ference that I might have their judgment and advice in a 
matter of such importance. Accordingly, when the proposals 
for sending missionaries to America were mentioned I told 
them in the fear of God what was on my mind, and offered 
myself for that service. At the same time Mr. Richard Board- 
man offered himself likewise. Mr. Wesley and the preach- 
ers in Conference heartily approved the proposal and imme- 
diately appointed us missionaries for that country. As we 
had been for several years in connection and were well known 
among the preachers, we judged their concurrence with what 

* Narrative of Labors in South Wales performed partly in company with the 
Rev. John Wesley in the years 1767 and 1768. By the Rev. Joseph Pilmore, D.D., 
p. 157. Philadelphia : 1825. In the latter period of his life he wrote his name Pil- 
more. 



112 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

we believed to be a call from God of the utmost importance, 
which made us rest fully satisfied with our appointment, as 
we had then sufficient reason to believe it was from God." 

The appointment of Pilmoor and Boardman was made at 
the English Conference which convened in Leeds, August 1, 
1769, the matter having been introduced by Wesley the third 
day of the session. They were volunteers for the heroic 
work. Wesley says " they willingly offered themselves for 
the service." Pilmoor did not offer to come here without 
mature deliberation and a comprehension of what the step 
involved, and the same, no doubt, was true of Boardman. 
Wesley, in accepting their proffered service, was confident 
they were men who would " endure hardness as good sol- 
diers of Jesus Christ." Pilmoor, in the two years preced- 
ing his appointment, was several times in personal associa- 
tion with Mr. Wesley. In the published account of his work 
in Wales in 1767 and 1768 he speaks of being in company 
with Wesley in that field on various occasions, and of there 
hearing him preach at sundry times. Wesley says "Richard 
Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor were men well reported of by 
all, and, we believe, fully qualified for the work." * 

When they were appointed to America there was scarcely 
a Protestant foreign missionary society in the world. There 
had been a slight movement in mission enterprise among the 
Danes, the Moravians, and the Dutch, but when the two 
Wesleyan missionaries embarked for this country, the conse- 
crated cobbler and father of modern missions, William Carey, 
was only eight years old. Indeed, until the nineteenth cen- 
tury, there was no general advance of evangelical Protestant- 
ism upon the immense and populous regions of heathendom. 
Pilmoor and Boardman were among the first English mis- 
sionaries that ventured upon stormy seas to seek a foreign 
shore. Not very long since a gentleman, in his eighty-sec- 
ond year, who was indulging in some reminiscent remarks 
said, " I saw the vessel sail that took out some of the first 
American missionaries that ever went to foreign lands, and 
now whole kingdoms have heard Messiah's name." It is as- 

* Wesley's Sermons, vol. i., p. 500. 



THE WESLEY AN MISSION FIELD IN AMERICA 113 



sertecl in the Schaff-Herzog " Encyclopaedia" that "the great 
religious revival starting with the labors of the Wesleys and 
Whitefield gave the impulse to recent modern missions." 
Dr. Abel Stevens finely says : " It is an interesting, if not a 
more significant coincidence, that in this very town whence 
the first Wesleyan missionaries were sent to America was to 
be organized, less than half a century later, the first Wes- 
leyan Methodist Missionary Society, an institution which has 
transcended in success every other similar organization of 
Protestant Christendom." 

After their appointment, and while the Conference was 
yet in session at Leeds, Pilmoor contemplated with strange 
feelings the new and extensive mission field beyond the 
sea. Less moral heroism was required for a British Wes- 
leyan preacher to daro the difficulties and perils of the itin- 
erancy in America after those first missionaries had met and 
surmounted them, and had cleared pathways for their suc- 
cessors, than was necessary in their case. They were to go 
to a country where the Indian roamed and his startling 
war-whoop rent the solitudes of vast wildernesses ; and 
where there were but few dense communities of people of 
European origin, nor scarcely any settlements except on or 
near the Atlantic coast. They were to go to a land destined 
to be the seat of a free and mighty nation, which was yet 
mostly unpeopled, and chiefly lay in the crudeness and gran- 
deur of its primeval wildness. They were going forth as Wes- 
leyan pioneers to a country in which there were but few Meth- 
odists ; who had but a single sanctuary, except such as were 
improvised from domiciles or shops, poor-houses or jails, um- 
brageous trees or verdant fields. They were to be voices in 
the wilderness crying, " Prepare the way of the Lord " — toilers 
subduing and preparing the ground for other laborers ; sowers 
of the seeds of harvests to be garnered by other reapers. 

If the work and the far-away field that were in their view 
while they yet lingered with their co-laborers at the Confer- 
ence in Leeds had not excited within them unusual and con- 
flicting feelings, they could hardly have claimed to have been 
men of like passions as their fellows. 



114 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

It is not strange therefore that the sensitive mind of Pil- 
moor was for a time swept by tempestuous emotions. " After 
I had offered myself for the service of Christ in a foreign 
country," he says in his journal, " my soul remained happy 
in the eujoyment of peace. But it was not long before the 
tempter began to harass my mind with strong and fiery 
temptations. He set before me the difficulties and dangers 
that would attend it — the pain of leaving my friends and na- 
tive land, the uncertainty of being received in that country, 
the hardships I should be exposed to, especially if the people 
did not receive my message nor entertain me ; and he painted 
the whole in such gloomy colors that I had like to have fainted 
and given up all, even after I had so long considered and so 
deliberately resolved upon it. Of all the temptations I had 
ever met with this was by far the sharpest. My whole soul 
was filled with anguish. The deep waters went over me. 
The enemy was ready to triumph. In this distress I called 
upon God, and made supplication with strong cries and tears 
to Him that was able to deliver. He graciously condescended 
to hear my voice and sent me help from His holy habitation. 
He rebuked the Accuser ; bruised Satan under my feet, and 
entirely removed all my distress and perplexity." 

Thus succored, strengthened, and victorious through 
prayer, Pilmoor came out of his fiery conflict with the cour- 
age of an apostle. "Being now freed from all my trouble," he 
says, " I resolved afresh to enter upon the important mission, 
and determined to go forth in the name of the Lord. It was 
the fixed purpose of my heart to follow the Lord to a land 
unknown, and to be faithful unto Him, let the consequence be 
what it would. I was willing to suffer and even to die for the 
Lord Jesus, so I might glorify Him and do good to mankind. 
After this I had not much difficulty, God did not suffer the 
devil to try me any more as he did at the first, so that I was 
kept in perfect peace during the rest of the Conference. My 
soul was constantly panting after God, and longing for the 
success of the gospel and the increase of the redeemer's king- 
dom in the world. The salvation of souls lay so near my 
heart that I was willing to sacrifice my life to do them good 



ENGLISH WESLEYANS CONTRIBUTE FOR THE MISSION 115 

and save theni from the wrath to corne. When Conference 
was over I took leave of Mr. Wesley and the preachers, and 
set off to see my relations. I was somewhat afraid the trial 
of parting with them would be too great for them, especially 
my mother, hut God had prepared her for it before I came. 
She seemed to freely give me up to Him, and was much re- 
signed to His will. This was a fresh token of the will of 
God concerning my going, and greatly encouraged my soul, 
so that I had not the least remaining doubt that it was my 
duty to go. The way was made plain before me ; every obsta- 
cle was entirely removed, and I was fully satisfied about it." 

Now that two able and devoted preachers of well-proven 
fitness for the mission had offered to go to America, and had 
been duly appointed thereto, the necessity of suitable pecun- 
iary provision for their voyage was seen. This exigence was 
promptly met by the Conference. " As the brethren in con- 
nection with us," says Pilmoor, "were perfectly satisfied with 
the appointment, they generously made a collection among 
themselves toward the payment of our passage over. After- 
ward it was mentioned in London, Bristol, etc., where the 
people willingly offered their assistance, and money enough 
was soon raised to send us over the Atlantic." They were 
the first foreign missionaries sent forth by Methodism, and" it 
was discovered at the outset that they could not go without 
funds. Men and money both are necessary for the spread 
of " the gospel in all lands." 

The Minutes of the British Conference of 1769 contain 
the following record : " Question 13. We have a pressing- 
call from our brethren at New York (w T ho have built a 
preaching house) to come over and help them. Who is 
willing to go ? Answer. Kichard Boardman and Joseph 
Pilmoor. 

" Question 14. What can we do further in token of our 
brotherly love ? Answer. Let us now make a collection 
among ourselves. This was immediately done, and out of it 
£50 were allotted towards the payment of their debt, and 
about £20 given to our brethren for their passage." 

Mr. Wesley subsequently gave a further account of this 

9 



116 



THE "WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



important business of the Conference of 1769, together with 
a brief view of the progress of the new movement in America. 

" Tuesday, August 1st. Our Conference began at Leeds. 
On Thursday I mentioned the case of our brethren at New 
York. For some years past several of our brethren from 
England and Ireland (and some of them preachers) had set- 
tled in North America, and had in various places formed 
societies, particularly in Philadelphia and New York. The 
society at New York had lately built a commodious preaching- 
house, and now desired our help, being in great want of 
money, but much more of preachers. Two of our preachers, 
Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor, willingly offered 
themselves for the service, by whom we determined to send 
over fifty pounds as a token of our brotherly love. 

" Several of our preachers went over in the following years. 
As they taught the same doctrines with our brethren here, so 
they used the same discipline. And the work of God pros- 
pered in their hands so that before the Rebellion* broke out 
about two and twenty preachers (most of them Americans) 
acted in concert with each other, and near three thousand 
persons were united together in the American societies. 
These were chiefly in the provinces of Maryland, Virginia, 
Pennsylvania and New York."t 

The contribution of both men and money for the work in 
America displayed almost pathetically the Apostolic devotion 
and zeal of "Wesley and his preachers. At the conference of 
1769 Pilmoor and Boardman freely gave themselves. The 
other preachers, led by Wesley, gave their money promptly 
and freely. They were mostly if not wholly poor in purse, 
yet they raised about three hundred and fifty dollars, the 
greater part of which was transmitted to the New York so- 
ciety as " a token of brotherly love ; " the rest was employed 
for the expenses of the missionaries. What was still better, 
with the money and the messengers who bore it, went the 

* Mr. Wesley was a loyal Briton, and opposed to the American revolt. As we 
shall see, the Methodists in this country were seriously compromised during the 
War of Independence by his " Calm address to our American Colonies." 

t A Short History of the People called Methodists, appended by Mr. Wesley to his. 
Concise Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. London. 



THE WESLEYAN CONFERENCE OF 1769 



117 



heart-felt solicitude and the faith-winged prayers of the 
Conference for the Americans. 

The Leeds Conference closed August 4, 1769. Its session 
was described by Wesley as a peculiarly "loving one." He 
says that " at the conclusion all the preachers were melted 
down while they were singing those lines for me : — 

" ' Thou who so long hast saved me here 

A little longer save, 
Till, freed from sin and freed from fear, 

I sink into the grave : 
Till glad I lay this body down, 

Thy servant, Lord, attend ; 
And O ! my life of mercies crown 

With a triumphant end.' " 

Only four days before his death, Mr. Wesley, says Dr. 
Whitehead, " while sitting in his chair, looked quite cheer- 
ful, and in a manner we all felt, repeated, ' Till glad I lay 
this body down,' " * etc., a part of the same hymn the preach- 
ers sang for him so feelingly at this memorable Conference. 

The Leeds Intelligencer of August 8th, noticed this Confer- 
ence thus : " For a week past the Rev. Mr. John Wesley has 
held a kind of visitation, but what they call a Conference, in 
this town, with several hundred of his preachers from most 
parts of Great Britain and Ireland, when he settled their sev- 
eral routes for the succeeding year. After collecting a large 
sum of money for the purpose of sending out missionaries 
for America, he yesterday morning set out for Manchester. "t 

Pilmoor left a brief record of this historic Conference, 
which is as follows : " Tuesday, August 1st, Mr. Jaco preached 
and at six our Conference began. The business then was io 
examine the character of the preachers, and it was a matter 
of great rejoicing that our brethren in general walk worthy 
of the gospel. Our evening congregation was uncommonly 

* Discourse delivered at the New Chapel, City Road, March 9, 1791, at the funeral 
of the late John Wesley. By John Whitehead, p. 61. London, 1791. 

t Lockwood's Western Pioneers, p 65. The "several hundred preachers" spoken 
of by the Leeds Intelligencer as in attendance at the Conference must have included 
people who attended the religions services thereof, for only 116 preachers were ap- 
pointed to circuits at that Conference. 



118 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

large and deeply serious while Mr. Wesley was pressing them 
to follow after holiness. Wednesday morning we had a 
profitable sermon from Mr. Olivers, and at night Mr. Wesley 
preached again. Thursday morning Mr. Helton preached, 
after which we made our annual subscription and gave above 
a hundred guineas for the support of our superannuated breth- 
ren, widows, and children. At night Mr. Wesley gave us an 
excellent sermon on the reward God will give the righteous 
at the great day of accounts. Friday Mr. Mather preached 
on the great duty of improving our talents. Then the preach- 
ers were stationed and Mr. Wesley read us a letter from Mr. 
Whitefield which was a special blessing to the Conference in 
general." * 

The Conference at Leeds being over Pilmoor and Board- 
man took leave of their brethren and began preparations for 
their departure. Pilmoor went to visit and say farewell to 
his parents and relatives. At his father's house he preached 
at the door to a very large congregation in the street. Most 
of the inhabitants of the town were there and the Divine 
blessing was upon the word. He also preached " with great 
freedom of mind to listening multitudes " at Kirby, Notoon, 
Barndale, and Gillimer. Many of his hearers were his rela- 
tives and neighbors, " who," he says, " all seemed much af- 
fected at the thought of parting, but I endeavored to comfort 
them with the hope of meeting again, if not on earth, in 
another and better world." 

Pilmoor met Boardman at York. In proceeding thither 
he preached at Hovingham and Sheriffhutton. He preached 
at York in the " Chapel to a large and attentive audience on 
August 13th." Two days later he reached London. " The 
rest of the week," he says, " we spent in making preparations 
for our voyage to Philadelphia. The London Methodists 
treated us with the utmost kindness and respect. They 
plentifully supplied our wants, greatly encouraged our minds 
in the arduous undertaking, and wished us success in the 
name of the Lord." 

* Pilmoor s Narrative of Labors in South Wales, performed partly in company 
with the Rev. John Wesley, pp. 102, 103. 



INTERVIEW AVITH WHITEFIELD 



119 



The missionaries met the Bev. George Whitefield in Lon- 
don and with him they enjoyed a memorable interview. The 
great evangelical orator, whose fame tilled Christendom, sent 
for them. Accordingly they waited upon him and " he 
treated us," says Pilmoor, " with all the kindness and tender- 
ness of a father in Christ." He had given much time and 
labor to America, and he could not but feel concerned for the 
success of the first itinerant laborers whom his long-cher- 
ished friend, the Eev. John Wesley, had appointed to this 
vast field. His acquaintance with the country and his long 
service and wide travels in it gave him especial qualifications 
as a counsellor of the two Wesleyan preachers who were about 
to sail for Philadelphia. Pilmoor, in speaking of their visit 
to Whitefield, says, " He knew what directions to give us. 
Difference in sentiment made no difference in love and affec- 
tion. He prayed heartily for us, and commended us to God 
and the word of his grace. We parted in love." 

While Boardman and Pilmoor were about to sail to 
America, Whitefield was destined quickly to follow them on 
his seventh and last voyage thither. His first visit to Amer- 
ica was in 1738 in response to the solicitation of the Wes- 
ley s. His sojourn then was short — four months — and was 
spent in Georgia and South Carolina. In Savannah he de- 
termined to found an orphan house, and returned to Eng- 
land to " make a beginning toward laying a foundation " 
thereof and also to receive priest's orders.* It is said that 
John Wesley had thirty to forty children in his care in Geor- 
gia before Whitefield went there. Mr. Wesley says, "Mr. 
Whitefield came over to Georgia to assist me in preaching 
either to the English or the Indians. As I was embarked 
for England before he arrived he preached to the English 
altogether." f 

Philips, the biographer of Whitefield, says that about the 
year " 1738 letters were received [by Whitefield] from the 
Wesleys and Ingham then in Georgia. Their descriptions 
of the moral condition of the British Colonies in America af- 

* Memoirs of Whitefield, by the Rev. John Gillies, D.D. 
t Wesley's Sermons, vol. i., p. 499. 



120 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



fected his heart powerfully. The chord touched ceased not 
to vibrate in his inmost soul. From the moment it was 
struck Oxford had no magnet, Hampshire no charms, the 
metropolis no fascination, for this young evangelist. He 
promptly declined a profitable curacy, intent on going 
abroad." 

Charles Wesley, many years subsequently, described in 
verse to Whitefield how from America he called to him to 
come and how in response Whitefield " flew " hither, leaving 
"country, fame, and ease and friends behind." Among the 
great services the Wesleys rendered to America was that of 
inducing George Whitefield to come over. 

In 1739 the great evangelist made a second voyage to 
America. He arrived in Philadelphia early in November 
and he " w T as immediately invited to preach in the churches, 
to which people of all denominations thronged." At this 
time he " is represented as of middle stature, slender body, 
fair complexion, comely appearance, and extremely bashful 
and modest." After a brief time spent in Philadelphia he 
went to New York. Being refused the Church he preached 
in the fields and in a " Meeting house." He went from New 
York to Philadelphia and thence travelled "on horseback " * 
as far south as Savannah, preaching in Pennsylvania, Dela- 
ware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
and Georgia. He extended his labors to various parts of 
New Jersey and New England. In this visit of over a year, in 
which he " laid the first brick " of his orphan house, his min- 
istry was very powerful. A New England minister wrote : 
" His head, his heart, his hands seem to be full of his Mas- 
ter's business. His discourses, especially when he goes into 
the expository way, are very entertaining. Every eye is 
fixed upon him and every ear chained to his lips. Most are 
very much affected ; many awakened and convinced, and a 
general seriousness excited. His address, more especially to 
the passions, is wonderful, and beyond what I have ever 
seen." 

In 1744 Whitefield made his third voyage to America. 

* Mr. David Creamer, in The Methodist, New York, March 9, 1861. 



WHITEFIELD AND "WESLEY DISAGKEE IN" DOCTRINE 121 



Then his stay was prolonged beyond three and a half years. 
His clarion voice rang out melodiously over the land, attract- 
ing all classes and subduing enchained auditories to contri- 
tion, tears, and prayer. The happy effects of his thrilling 
proclamation of the gospel were visible in all the vast Ameri- 
can circuit he ranged. In 1746 he wrote from Maryland 
to Mr. Wesley : " If you ask how is it with me ? I answer, 
Happy in Jesus, the Lord my Righteousness. If you ask, 
what am I doing ? Ranging and hunting in the American 
woods after poor sinners and resolved to pursue the heavenly 
game more and more. If you ask with what success ? I 
would answer, (O amazing grace) with great success indeed."* 
Prior to this third visit to America the doctrinal breach 
between Whitefield and the Wesleys was accomplished. 
John Wesley had printed a sermon entitled, " Free Grace," 
in which he contended " very strongly against election, a doc- 
trine," says Whitefield, " which I thought and do now be- 
lieve was taught me of God, therefore could not possibly re- 
cede from. Thinking it my duty to do so I had written an 
answer at the orphan house, which though revised, I think 
had some too strong expressions about absolute reprobation, 
which the apostle leaves rather to be inferred than ex- 
pressed. . . . Ten thousand times would I rather have 
died than part with my old friends. It would have melted 
any heart to have heard Mr. Charles Wesley and me weeping 
after prayer that if possible, the breach might be pre- 
vented." f 

Whitefield in 1741 printed in London " A Letter to the 
Rev. John Wesley in answer to his sermon entitled ' Free 
Grace.' " He wrote the pamphlet in Georgia in 1710. In it, 
on page 10, Whitefield said : " I frankly acknowledge I be- 
lieve the doctrine of Reprobation, that God intends to give 
saving grace through Jesus Christ only to a certain number 
and that the rest of mankind after the fall of Adam, being 
justly left of God to continue in sin will at last justly suffer 
that eternal death which is its proper wages. This is the es- 
tablished doctrine of scripture and acknowledged as such in 

* Arminian Magazine, London, 1778. t Gillies' Life of Whitefield. 



122 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



the seventeenth article of the Church of England, as Bishop 
Burnet himself confesses ; yet dear Mr. Wesley denies it." 

Whitefield delighted in the doctrine of Election, and in this 
Letter to Wesley on page 26 he said : " Our Lord knew for 
whom he died. There was an eternal compact between the 
father and the son. A certain number was then given him 
as the purchase and reward of his obedience and death. For 
these he prayed and not for the world. For these and these 
only He is now interceding and with their salvation he will 
be fully satisfied." He also in the same work said : " This 
doctrine is my daily support. I should utterly sink under a 
dread of my impending trials were I not firmly persuaded 
that God has chosen me in Christ before the foundation of 
the world, and that now having effectually called he will suf- 
fer none to pluck me out of his Almighty hand." In this 
public letter to Wesley, Whitefield professed great love for 
him. " I am sure," he says, " I love you in the bowels of 
Jesus Christ, and think I could lay down my life for your 
sake, but yet, dear sir, I cannot help strenuously opposing 
your errors upon this important subject, because I think you 
warmly, not designedly, oppose the truth as it is in Jesus." 

Though separated in opinion the great evangelists were 
one in heart. Whitefield wrote his will with his own hand 
six months before his decease, and he annexed to it a Nota 
Bena, in which he said, " I leave a mourning ring to my 
honored and dear friends, and disinterested fellow-laborers, 
the Rev. Messrs. John and Charles Wesley, in token of my 
indissoluble union with them in heart and Christian affection, 
notwithstanding our difference in judgment about some par- 
ticular points of doctrine." * Thus did he accord with Sir 
Thomas Browne, who, in his " Religio Medici," said, "I could 
never divide myself from any man upon the difference of an 
opinion or be angry with his judgment for not agreeing with 
me." This spirit of generous toleration was illustrated by 
Wesley also in his unbroken friendship for Whitefield. 

It is said that one of his executors, Mr. Robert Keen, 
often asked Mr. Whitefield, " If you should die abroad, whom 

* Gillies' Life of Whitefield. 



whitefield's WONDERFUL PREACHING IN AMERICA 123 



shall we get to preach your funeral sermon? Must it be 
your old friend John Wesley?" and he always answered, 
" He is the man." Mr. Keen, therefore, on hearing of White- 
field's death, waited upon Mr. Wesley and secured his ser- 
vice for the mournful occasion. In the funeral discourse 
Wesley "bore ample testimony to the undissembled piety, 
the ardent zeal, and the extensive usefulness of his much 
loved and honored friend." Concerning Whitefield's separa- 
tion from the Wesley s, John Wesley says : "A good man who 
met with us when we were in Oxford conversed much with dis- 
senters and contracted strong prejudices against the Church. 
I mean Mr. Whitefield. Not long afterward he totally sepa- 
rated from us." * 

Before the Wesleyan movement rose west of the Atlantic 
Whitefield had visited America six times. By his splendid 
oratory he upbore the cross before the gaze of spellbound and 
weeping multitudes in the more populous portions of the 
country and gave an impulse to the kingdom of Messiah 
which has never ceased. Along the coast region from Savan- 
nah to Boston he poured from his anointed lips the musi- 
cal and melting strains of a blood-bought salvation. The 
effect was visible in the gathering of the people from far 
and near to his heart-piercing and soul-moving ministrations 
and also in their renewed natures and reformed lives. In 
1739 he preached on Society Hill, Philadelphia, to a crowd of 
fifteen thousand people, f The Gazette of the day says, " The 
change to religion is altogether surprising ; through the influ- 
ence of Whitefield no books sell but religious and such is the 
general conversation." " On Thursday last," says the Penn- 
sylvania Gazette of 1739, "the Rev. Mr. Whitefield left this 
city and was accompanied to Chester by one hundred and 
fifty horse, and preached to seven thousand people. On Fri- 
day he preached twice at Willington [probably Wilmington] 
to about five thousand ; on Saturday at Newcastle to about 
two thousand five hundred, and the same evening at Chris- 
tian Bridge to about three thousand. On Sunday at White 
Clay Creek he preached twice, resting about half an hour 

* Wesley's Sermons, vol. i., p. 497. t Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. 



124 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



between the sermons, to about eight thousand, of whom three 
thousand it is computed came on horseback. It rained most 
of the time, and yet they stood in the open air." * 

Dr. Benjamin Franklin has described the spiritual effects 
of Whitefield's marvellous ministry here. " It was wonder- 
ful," he says, " to see the change made in the manners of our 
inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about 
religion, it seemed as if all the world were becoming relig- 
ious ; so that one could not walk through the town in an 
evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of 
every street." The effect of his ministry in Philadelphia at 
one time was to close the dancing-school and to shut up the 
concert and ball-room, f 

As John the Baptist was the forerunner and herald of 
the Founder of Christianity, so Wesley's early fellow-laborer, 
George Whitefield, went before the Arminian Methodism 
of America and prepared its way. He opened highways for 
its progress by preaching its vital truths and experience with 
an irresistible fascination and power of oratory which it may 
be doubted if the world ever saw surpassed, and by making 
the country familiar, as no doubt he did, with the spread of 
the Methodist revival in England, and with the name of Wes- 
ley, its great leader. It was his office also in some parts of 
the land to make the people acquainted with the rudiments 
of the word and work of redemption. " There are thou- 
sands in these southern parts," he said, in one of his letters, 
" that scarce ever heard of redeeming grace and love." He 
drove the ploughshare of a pentecostal gospel through the 
virgin American soil which the Wesley an preachers after- 
ward cultivated, and from which they reaped abounding har- 
vests. The popular ear was opened by his unctuous elo- 
quence to receive their plain, evangelical message. Mr. 
Wesley says : " All men owned that God was with " White- 
field, and "by his ministry a line of communication was 
formed from Georgia to New England." He also says that 
in a tour Whitefield made, in April, 1740, " through Penn- 

* Quoted in Bishop Thompson's Evidences of Revealed Religion, 
t Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. 



INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES WESLEY 125 



sylvania, the Jerseys, and New York, incredible multitudes 
nocked to hear, among whom were abundance of negroes. 
In all places the greater part of the hearers were affected to 
an amazing degree. In some places thousands cried out 
aloud, many as in the agonies of death. Most were drowned 
in tears, some turned pale as death, others were wringing 
their hands, others lying on the ground, others sinking into 
the arms of their friends, almost all lifting up their eyes and 
calling for mercy." * 

Not only did the two missionaries who were about to sail 
for their distant field enjoy a memorable interview for coun- 
sel and prayer with Whitefield in London, but it was their 
privilege likewise there to meet another eminent person- 
age, whose lofty and inspiring songs have given him a great 
and enduring celebrity. On the last Sabbath of their delay 
in the English metropolis — August 20, 1769 — they saw the 
famous lyrist of Methodism and received his benediction. 
Pilmoor says : " The Rev. Charles Wesley preached and ad- 
ministered the sacrament in Spitalfields. God was remark- 
ably present among the people, and it was truly a time of re- 
freshing from the presence of the Lord. At five I preached 
in the foundry to a numerous congregation with great en- 
largedness of heart, and was abundantly blessed in my own 
soul. Charles Wesley met the society, and afterward sent 
for Mr. Boardman and me into his room, where he spoke 
freely and kindly to us about our sea voyage and the impor- 
tant business in which we had engaged. After giving us 
much good advice he sent us forth with his blessing in the 
name of the Lord. This was of great advantage to us, as it 
afforded us the pleasing reflection that we had not acted 
contrary to the mind of our brethren and fathers in Christ. 
We had what we believed a call from God ; we had the ap- 
probation and authority of three godly clergymen of the 
Church of England, and likewise the authority of more than 
a hundred preachers of the gospel, who are laboring day and 
night to save souls from destruction and advance the king- 
dom of Christ. Hence we concluded we had full power, ac- 

* Wesley's Sermons, vol. i. , p. 473. 



126 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



cording to the New Testament, to preach the everlasting 
gospel and to do all possible good to mankind." 

Thus, before leaving the English shore, the first regularly 
appointed Wesley an missionaries to America held personal 
intercourse with three of the most illustrious and apostolic 
men in the later history of Christianity, in relation to the 
mission they were about to inaugurate in the new world. 
On the altitude of his fame John Wesley stands singly 
and unchallenged, as the greatest religious reformer since 
Luther. George Whitefield probably was the mightiest itiner- 
ant evangelist the world has seen since the era of the apos- 
tles. Charles Wesley's popularity as a Christian poet has 
never waned, but his celebrity as one of the greatest hym- 
nists of the world is still extending. Of whom, in the place 
they filled and the influence they impressed upon their age 
and the ages following, can superior greatness be affirmed, 
at least in modern times, in the English-speaking world ? 
By whom, indeed, since the age of the apostles, has the 
apostolic spirit and power been more fully illustrated than 
by that immortal trio of Christian leaders and reformers — 
the entrancing and overwhelming pulpit orator, the glo- 
rious and deathless evangelical singer, and the great and 
holy chieftain of a world-stirring reproduction of the Pente- 
cost ? From their presence, counselled by their wisdom, in- 
spired by their prayers, and bearing their benediction, 
Boardman and Pilmoor went forth to encounter billows and 
tempests, and to give propulsion to the new reformation in 
the nascent empire of freedom across the Atlantic Ocean. 

Concerning the movements of Boardman after the Leeds 
Conference rose, we know but little. He, however, was with 
Pilmoor in London before they sailed. But for Pilmoor's 
eloquent narrative, which has descended to us in manuscript, 
we should be without information concerning most of the 
labors of either of those preachers in connection with Method- 
ism in America. It is probable that Boardman, like Pil- 
moor, kept some record of his work, but no such product of 
his pen seems to be extant. He was not, like his colleague, 
favored' with long life, and save a few autograph letters, and 



boardman' s fruitful sermon on jabez 127 

three or four epistles in print, his writings probably have 
perished. In Pilmoor's Journal we get interesting glimpses 
of Boardman's travels and labors, but the loss of his own 
diary, if such he kept, is irreparable. 

Tradition gives us. one beautiful incident of his ministry 
in 1769, which transpired when he was going up to London 
to embark for America. He stopped for a night at a small 
village called Moneyash, in Derbyshire, and in the evening 
he preached there on the prayer of Jabez. A young woman 
— Mary Kedfern — was deeply moved by the sermon and be- 
came a Christian. She subsequently married William Bunt- 
ing, and settled in Manchester. The memory of the dis- 
course she heard from Boardman ten years before led her to 
name her only son Jabez, " a memento of her gratitude and 
a prophecy of his history." While he was an infant she 
carried him to Oldham Street chapel, and presented him to 
Mr. Wesley, that he might give his blessing to the child. 
Mrs. Bunting took her boy to the Methodist meetings, and 
when he was fifteen years old he was excluded from a love- 
feast because he had no ticket nor note of admission from the 
preacher. His mother said to him : "I do not know what 
you think of it, Jabez, but to me it seems an awful thing that, 
having been carried there, you should now be excluded by 
your own fault." Jabez afterward declared that " the blow 
was struck in the right place." He soon became a member 
of the Methodist society. Not many years after this he was 
known as a rising Wesleyan preacher. He became the great- 
est leader of British Methodism since Wesley. Of states- 
manlike intellect, sagacious in counsel, strong and eloquent 
in speech, his authority in the English Conference " was for 
many years as powerful as that of one man can ever be in a 
free assembly." He administered most successfully the 
Wesleyan Missionary Society. In the pulpit he wielded ex- 
traordinary power, and his ministry was very fruitful of con- 
versions. In this great Methodist preacher we see the far- 
reaching effects of a single discourse by Kichard Boardman. 

A relic is preserved which is a memorial of his sermon on 
Jabez (1 Chron. iv. 9, 10), and of its extraordinary fruitful- 



128 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

ness in the lives and works of the Buntings. It is a cane, 
and it was presented to the Methodist Historical Society in 
Philadelphia, November 10, 1881, by the Eev. Bishop Peck. 
In presenting it the bishop gave its history thus : " I hold in 
my hand the staff of Richard Boardman. On his way to the 
port from which he sailed to America, he preached a sermon 
concerning Jabez. Miss Mary Bedfern was in the congrega-, 
tion. She was powerfully impressed and soon converted. 
She married William Bunting, and named her first-born Ja- 
bez. This son was the distinguished Rev. Dr. Jabez Bunt- 
ing, the master mind of British Methodism. After the death 
of Mr. Boardman, this cane was given to Dr. Bunting in 
memory of his name and the conversion of his mother. At 
his death it became the charge of his son, T. Percival Bunt- 
ing, Esq., an English barrister. He entrusted it with me, 
requesting that it should be finally left where it would be 
carefully preserved and convenient of access. Mr. Board- 
man preached his first sermon in America in Philadelphia, 
and became very dear to the Church here. Believing that 
you would consider it a valuable historical relic, I take the 
liberty to present it to the Philadelphia Conference Histori- 
cal Society." 

" On the twenty-first of August, 1769," says Pilmoor, 
" after preaching once more in the foundry, we took leave of 
our London friends, went to the Carolina Coffee House, 
where we met with Captain Sparks, with whom we were to 
sail, and two gentlemen who were to go as passengers with 
us. "We took the coach for Gravesend, where we embarked 
in the evening on board the Mary and Elizabeth for Phila- 
delphia. In the morning we weighed anchor and dropped 
down the river as far as Deal, but the wind proving con- 
trary, we were obliged to lay at anchor in the Boad for sev- 
eral days. While we lay in the Downs I had fine opportr- 
nity for study, and found my mind in general much resigned 
to the will of God." 

On September 1st a fine and favoring breeze prevailed, 
the anchor was immediately hoisted, and the voyage began. 
The next day being Sunday they "had prayers upon the 



A STORM AT SEA 



129 



quarter-deck." Boardman preached on " The great day of 
His wrath is corne and who shall be able to stand ? " The 
behavior of the sailors and steerage passengers was so excel- 
lent that another service was held on deck in the afternoon. 
The missionaries improved their time on the ocean in pray- 
ers, in study, and in sacred ministrations. For some time 
they suffered from sea-sickness, so they " could not help each 
other." They were well cared for, however, by the captain 
and the steward of the cabin. 

When they had been sailing four weeks they encountered 
that terror of the mariner, a storm at sea. It arose about 
seven in the morning. For a short time the ship kept on 
her course, but the violence of the tempest soon made it 
necessary " to haul in all the sails and lay to " until it ceased. 
The great billows were of mountainous height, and so furious 
was the storm " it seemed utterly impossible for the ship 
to live or keep above water." The heavens frowned with 
gloom, and the ocean was a spectacle of appalling grandeur, 

"Inspiring awe till breath itself stands still." 

Amid this terrific war of the elements Pilmoor and Board- 
man enjoyed a blissful inward serenity, reminding one of 
Wordsworth's 

" Central Peace, 
Subsisting at the heart of endless agitation." 

They stood upon the dizzy deck, gazing dauntlessly upon 
the wrathful floods, sustained by the Everlasting Arms. " In 
the morning," says Pilmoor, " when I went upon deck and 
saw the danger we were in, instantly my heart was filled with 
the pure love of God and all fear of death and hell was en- 
tirely taken away. I had not a shadow of a doubt of my ac- 
ceptance, and was fully assured if I died then I should be 
eternally happy with God. And this continued all the day, 
nor did it ever forsake me during the storm. Of all the days 
of my life this was by far the most happy. My soul was 
more resigned to all the dispensations of Providence than 
ever it had been before and life or death was equal. Surely 
the goodness of God is infinite and His mercy is upon them 



130 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN" AMERICA 

that fear Him. Being thus blessed my heart was embold- 
ened and I could say : 

" ' When passing through the watery deep 

I ask in faith His promised aid ; 
The waves an awful distance keep 

And shrink from my devoted head ; 
Fearless their violence I dare, 

They cannot harm while God is there.' " 

Of his experience in this storm Boardman wrote to Mr. 
Wesley : " When it appeared impossible that the vessel 
should live long amid the conflicting elements I found myself 
exceedingly happy. I do not remember to have had one 
doubt of being eternally saved should the mighty waters 
swallow us up." 

The ship came to land on October 20, 1769, and the next 
day Boardman and Pilmoor disembarked at Gloucester Point, 
N. J., four miles south of Philadelphia. Lee, Bangs and 
Stevens, in their histories of American Methodism, give the 
date of the landing at Gloucester as the 24th of that month. 
Pilmoor says it was on the twenty-first of October that they 
stepped for the first time upon the shore of the Delaware. 
Their devout feelings broke forth into thanksgivings as they 
set their feet upon this Western Continent, whose destinies 
were to be affected by their labors and with whose religious 
history their names were to be indelibly interwoven. " When 
we got on shore we joined in a doxology," says Pilmoor, 
" and gave praise to God for our deliverance and all the mer- 
cies bestowed upon us during the passage. When we had 
rested a little while at a public house Mr. Boardman and I 
walked up to the city." 

The Pennsylvania Gazette of November 2, 1769, has the 
following advertisement of the return voyage of the ship 
which carried Pilmoor and Boardman over the Atlantic : 

" For LONDON 

" The SmT 

"MARY and ELIZABETH, 
' ' JAMES SPARKS, Master, 



pilmoor's early life 



131 



"Is a good ship and has extraordinary accommodations for passen- 
gers ; part of her cargo ready to go on board, and will sail with all con- 
venient speed. For freight or passage apply to John Head, the Master 
on board, or at the London Coffee House/' 

While the two missionaries are walking from their place 
of landing to Philadelphia, let us scan more minutely their 
previous history. 

Joseph Pilmoor was born in Yorkshire, England. Lock- 
wood, in his work on Boardman and Pilmoor, entitled " The 
Western Pioneers," gives the date of Pilmoor's birth as Octo- 
ber 31, 1739. The Rev. Richard D. Hall, of Philadelphia, 
who knew Pilmoor well and was a convert of his ministry, 
gives the time of his birth as " about the year 1734." * The 
Rev. S. F. Hotchkin, in a sketch of Pilmoor in the Standard 
of the Gross, Philadelphia, of March 16, 1889, says he " died 
in his eighty-sixth year, July 24, 1825." This is almost in 
accord with Lockwood's date of his birth. Hall gives the 
same date of his death, but says he was then in his ninety- 
first year. The same date of his decease is inscribed on his 
tomb, and his age given thereon is eighty-seven. His con- 
version is said to have occurred when he was sixteen years 
old, through the agency of the Wesleyan evangelists. Hall 
attributes Pilmoor's conversion to the instrumentality of 
Mr. Wesley, and also says Wesley gave him a place in his 
school at Kingswood, where he studied English literature and 
also Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. He presented Hall with a 
Hebrew grammar which was compiled by, and contained the 
autograph of, Mr. Wesley. Pilmoor's school life continued 
at Kingswood, according to Hall, for three or four years, 
after which Wesley sent him forth as one of his " helpers." 
He preached acceptably and successfully in many parts of 
England "and through all the counties of South Wales." 
He was useful, it is said, among the higher orders of society, 
and enjoyed the kindness of Lady Huntingdon and Lady 
Maxwell. 

In the beginning of his religious life Pilmoor was much 
benefited by the ministry of Dr. Conyers, who was a clergy- 

* Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, vol. v. 

10 



132 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



man of the Church of England. He held Socinian opinions, 
but came to the experience of a Scriptural conversion, and 
thenceforth was exceedingly evangelical in his teaching. 
Then his ministry became very successful, and he gathered 
his numerous converts into classes. Pilmoor refers to Con- 
yers in his Journal, under the date of April 4, 1772, thus : 
" After spending the morning in study I was glad to embrace 
an opportunity of writing to the Rev. Mr. Conyers in York- 
shire, who was of infinite service to me when I set my face 
toward Heaven and resolved to run the appointed race. His 
ministry was so blessed to my soul that I believe I shall have 
reason to praise God on his account to all eternity." 

The precise time when Pilmoor went forth as a member 
of Wesley's itinerancy is not certainly known. He held, ac- 
cording to Hall, a certificate signed by Mr. Wesley which 
represented him " as having grace, gifts and success." Of 
him " the first record in the official minutes is 1765, when 
Joseph Pilmoor is received on trial, but has no appointment ; 
while in 1766 his name appears among those who are ad- 
mitted, and he is stationed in Cornwall." In 1767 his appoint- 
ment was Wales, and in 1768 he was returned to the same 
field. 

The statistics in the minutes of the British Conference 
reveal numerical progress in Wales during Pilmoor's minis- 
try there. The published narrative of his service in that field 
shows that he was zealous and laborious. One of the inci- 
dents of his ministry there was an indignity he received from 
a minister. " While I was preaching " he says, " a clergy- 
man and two or three of his companions got behind a wall, 
and threw several eggs, but they missed their mark and I 
concluded in peace." * Brave, cultured, unctuous, eloquent, 
and of commanding voice and presence Pilmoor was an 
approved instrument, a workman that needed not to be 
ashamed. 

Richard Boardman's early history is involved in obscu- 

* Narrative of Labors in South Wales, performed partly in company with the 
Rev. John Wesley, in the years 1767-68, by the Rev. Joseph Pilmore, D.D. Phila- 
delphia, 1825. While he was a Wesleyan preacher here he spelled his name Pil- 
moor. 



boardman's early work and character 133 

rity. Only glimpses of his career prior to his American voy- 
age can be obtained. Even the place of his birth is uncer- 
tain. Lockwood says he "is supposed by well sustained tra- 
dition to have been born at Gillimoor, but the most careful 
research has failed to furnish any authentic record of his- 
early religious life. He entered the ministry about 1763 and 
travelled successively in the Grimsby, Limerick, and Cork 
circuits, closing this period of his labors in the picturesque 
tract of country known as the Dales circuit. Here the primi- 
tive evangelists had to prosecute their arduous toils amid 
peculiar difficulties, crossing the lofty mountains and thread- 
ing the numerous ravines which intersect the counties of 
Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmoreland."* His appoint- 
ment in 1767 was York ; in 1768 Dales. From Lockwood 
we learn that Boardman's wife Olive, and their daughter 
Mary, died in January, 1769. Lockwood quotes a quarterly 
meeting record of money of the amount of two pounds and 
two shillings paid to Boardman for the burial of his wife. 
Thus in the grief of a double bereavement he responded to 
the call to come over the Atlantic. Wesley, as extant docu- 
ments show, recognized Boardman's worth and talents. A 
high authority has described him as "a man of great piety, 
of an amiable disposition, and possessed of a strong under- 
standing ; " and also as " greatly beloved and universally re- 
spected wherever his lot was cast." t 

We are now to see the two missionaries entering upon 
their American labors. "Here," says an early Methodist 
writer, " commenced a new era in Methodism. The societies 
which were hitherto independent of each other were now 
united to the societies in England, and received travelling 
preachers from Mr. Wesley." 

* The Western Pioneers, by John P. Lockwood, London, 1881. 
t The Methodist Memorial, by the Rev. Charles Atmore. 



CHAPTEK II. 



BOARDMAN AND PILMOOR AT WORK IN AMERICA. 

The first missionaries appointed to America by the Rev. 
John Wesley reached Philadelphia on or about the twenty- 
first day of October, 1769. On that day, at least, they came 
on shore at Gloucester Point, and after resting c£ a little while 
at a public house," they walked to Philadelphia. 

We will here pause to glance at the city and the country 
which Boardman and Pilmoor entered nine weeks after their 
embarkation at London. 

Philadelphia in 1769 was the commercial and social me- 
tropolis of America and in 1774 became the seat of the Colo- 
nial Congress. Not until a half century later did New York 
become its equal in population. There were in Philadelphia 
in 1769, it is said, 4,474 houses with 30,000 inhabitants * It 
was the home of Benjamin Franklin, whose great fame as a 
philosopher had shed enduring lustre upon the country. 
There was the library which he founded and which had de- 
veloped into a centre of literature for the city. The Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania was also there, and its long-famed 
school of medicine was founded in 1765. Dr. Rush, distin- 
guished as a citizen, a physician, and a statesman, was in 1769 
delivering medical lectures in that school. The State house, 
now known as Independence Hall, stood then, as it stands 
now, on Chestnut Street. Commenced in 1729, the main 
structure was completed in 1734. The right and left wings 
were added in 1739-40. There were also other public build- 
ings, and commodious churches. 

Philadelphia, Boston, and New York in 1769 comprised 
nearly all the important cities of the continent. Washington 

* Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxi., p. 134. 



AMERICA m 1769 



135 



City did not exist until above twenty years later. Baltimore 
was scarcely forty years old, and in 1752 had only 200 popu- 
lation. The great western cities had not been founded when 
Boardman and Pilmoor came hither, save St. Louis, which 
was then rising into prominence as a centre of the fur trade 
of the Missouri. Illinois did not then contain over 1,500 
inhabitants. Now its leading city has a great population, 
and was the seat of the world's Columbian Exposition. Vin- 
cennes was then the only settlement in Indiana, with less 
than 500 people. We are told that John Finley, a back- 
woodsman of North Carolina, in 1768 passed through Ken- 
tucky and failed to discover a single white man's cabin " in 
all the enchanting wilderness." The site of the city of Lex- 
ington was covered with trees until 1780.* The total popula- 
tion of the territory which now forms the great States of 
Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee was hardly three thousand, 
and that of all the colonies in 1769 probably did not much 
exceed two and a half millions. They mostly dwelt along 
the bays, rivers, and inlets of the Atlantic coast, and the 
settlements probably did not reach on the average over a 
hundred miles from the sea. As late as 1802 Marietta con- 
tained somewhat above two hundred houses and was one of 
the largest towns in the State of Ohio. 

American life in 1769 was chiefly rural. " The western 
villages abounded in wheat, Indian corn, and swine," with a 
sufficiency of beef cattle. Trade was burdened with the cost 
of transportation. All English goods sent westward were 
made dear by the expense of land carriage from Philadelphia 
to Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg. The distance is 300 miles, and 
in 1802 the road was described as lying through " a country 
whose hilly surface, covered with dark forests, gives it the ' 
appearance of an agitated sea." 

The simple machines for breaking flax and spinning and 
weaving wool were in common use in the homes of the people 
in 1769, and the garments they wore were as a rule wholly 
manufactured by wives, and mothers, and daughters. The 
mechanic arts in use here were simple and few, and literature 

* Edinburgh Review, vol. vii., p. 159. 

* 



136 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

had hardly begun to bud. Jefferson indeed wrote, as late as 
1807, that " our countrymen are so much occupied with the busy 
scenes of life that they have little time to write or invent."* 

Yet the period of the arrival of the first two Wesleyan 
missionaries was a golden age of American intellect. Prince- 
ton College was already a power in the land. Eutgers was 
established at New Brunswick in New Jersey, William and 
Mary in Virginia, Columbia College in New York City, and 
with Harvard in Massachusetts, Yale in Connecticut, and the 
University in Philadelphia were training men for intellectual 
leadership. About 1769 Dartmouth College developed in 
New Hampshire from the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock's Indian 
boys' school in Connecticut. The Earl of Dartmouth, one of 
its trustees and the custodian of the funds which were re- 
ceived for it from England, was, it is said, a friend of John 
Wesley and a Methodist. t Washington and Jefferson were 
then in the Virginia Legislature, and with Otis, Ames, and 
Adams were developing into greatness. Jonathan Edwards had 
closed his illustrious career. Patrick Henry was the foremost 
orator of his time, and Franklin was a celebrity in two hemi- 
spheres. The Edinburgh Review in 1817 declared in a leading 
article that " in one point of view the name of Franklin must 
be considered as standing higher than any of the others which 
illustrated the eighteenth century. Distinguished as a states- 
man, he was equally great as a philosopher ; thus uniting in 
himself a rare degree of excellence in both those pursuits to 
excel in either of which is deemed the highest praise. Frank- 
lin would have been entitled to the glory of a first-rate dis- 
coverer in science — one who had largely extended the bounds 
of human knowledge — although he had not stood second to 
Washington alone in gaining for human liberty the most 
splendid and guiltless of its triumphs." Seventeen years be- 
fore the arrival of Boardman and Pilmoor, Franklin achieved 
his great discovery of the identity of lightning with electricity 
which spread his fame over the civilized world. 

The clouds of revolution already gloomed the sky. The 

* Memoirs, Correspondence, and Miscellanies of Thomas Jefferson, vol. iv. p. 33. 
t A Concise History of the American People. By Jacob Harris Patton, A.M. 



SIGNS OF REVOLUTION" 



137 



resistance to English taxation was fast turning the colonies 
into rebellion. The year 1763 has been regarded as the be- 
ginning of the revolutionary epoch, because in that year the 
British ministry determined upon securing revenues from 
the American colonies by taxing them. In 1765 the Stamp 
Act passed the English Parliament. It produced excitement 
in America. The New York newspapers denounced the law 
and opposition to it was general and determined. In 1766 
the Act was repealed, and the event brought great joy to the 
colonies. Still England was fixed in its policy of gathering 
revenues from the Americans, to which the latter were un- 
compromisingly hostile. The very month the Wesleyan mis- 
sionaries landed in New Jersey (October, 1769) the Gen- 
eral Assembly of that province passed a resolution of thanks 
to the merchants and traders of the colony, and to the col- 
onies of Pennsylvania and New York, for their patriotism 
displayed " in withholding importations of British merchan- 
dize until the restrictive acts of Parliament be repealed." * 

The public journals of that period show that this was a 
chief topic of thought and speech in the country an 1769. 
Meetings were held, resolutions were adopted and printed, 
and leagues were formed with reference to the exciting con- 
troversy. In England also there was considerable popular in- 
terest in the subject. The ship which brought the Wesleyan 
missionaries hither at the same time brought a letter which 
appears to have been addressed by a Quaker to George III., 
and was published in a London Journal. The Pennsylvania 
Journal and Weekly Advertiser of Philadelphia, in its issue of 
Thursday, October 26, 1769, says : "Monday last arrived Cap- 
tain Sparks from London f by whom we have the following 
advices : From the London Gazetteer and New Daily Adver- 
tiser ' 

" 14th of the 8th month 1769. 

" Friend G 

"I have heard that thy faithful subject and friend George 
Whitefield is soon going over to America ; his conversations 

* History of New Jersey, by J. R. Sypher and E. A. Apgar, p. 97. 
t The shin came to land at Gloucester Saturday, October 21st. It appears the 
Captain brought it to Philadelphia, Monday the 23d. 



138 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



and orations have a great influence in that country. Wouldst 
thou not do well to consult with . honest George, and if thou 
hast thoughts of easing the Americans (as some writers affirm) 
canst thou find a better man to communicate thy intentions 
by. All he says will be credited, and all he says from thine 
own resolutions communicated to him will have great weight 
and perhaps bring about a revolution that will be to thy peo- 
ple's contentment and thine own reputation." 

Religious institutions had existed in the American colo- 
nies long before 1769. The churches were generally Calvin - 
istic. " The pilgrims of Plymouth," says Bancroft, " were 
Calvinists ; the best influence of South Carolina came from 
the Calvinists of France : William Penn was the disciple of 
the Huguenots : the ships of Holland that first brought col- 
onists to Manhattan were filled with Calvinists." In the 
middle colonies the Presbyterians were considerably numer- 
ous. In New England the Puritan element held sway and 
the churches were mostly of the Congregational Order, but 
there were also Baptists and Quakers. In the South the 
Baptists were somewhat numerous, but the Church of Eng- 
land was the principal ecclesiastical organization there. It 
also had adherents and influential churches in the northern 
colonies, especially in the cities. In Philadelphia particu- 
larly, and in contiguous places, there were many Quakers. 
The Roman Catholics were also here but not notably numer- 
ous, except in the province of Maryland. 

In portions of the country there was much ignorance re- 
specting true religion and a dearth of Christian preaching aud 
ordinances. This was particularly true of much of the South. 
The Rev. Devereux Jarrett, an Episcopal clergyman of Vir- 
ginia, says that when he was chosen rector of the Bath parish 
in the county of Dinwiddie, in 1763, " ignorance and profane- 
ness prevailed among all ranks and degrees " in its bounds, 
" so that I doubt if even the form of godliness was to be found 
in one family of this large and populous parish." Jarratt pro- 
claimed the evangelical truths to the people, but he says "my 
doctrines were quite new to them, and were neither preached 



NEED OF A EELIGIOUS AWAKENING 



139 



nor believed by any other clergyman, so far as I could learn, 
throughout the province."* After a decade had passed he 
wrote to Mr. Wesley in 1773 : " We have ninety-five parishes 
in the colony and all except one I believe are supplied with 
clergymen. But alas ! you will understand the rest. I know 
of but one clergyman of the Church of England who appears 
to have the power and spirit of vital religion. All seek their 
own and not the things that are Christ's. Is not our situa- 
tion then truly deplorable ? "t In North Carolina there was 
great destitution of religious teaching and ordinances. Pih 
moor was himself in that province in 1772 and found a 
lamentable lack of preachers. " It is," he says, " 200 miles 
wide and is settled near 400 miles in length, and the church 
established as in England, yet in all this country there are 
but eleven ministers." Madison in Virginia wrote in 1774 : 
"Poverty and luxury prevail among all sects ; pride, igno- 
rance and knavery among the priesthood, and vice and wicked- 
ness among the laity." 

Kespecting the low condition of religion and morals in 
the Episcopal Church in this country in those early times, a 
clergyman has offered the following remarks : " There has 
existed a special reason for this deadness in the Episcopal 
Church. This church sprung from the Church of England. 
It was established in this country by the English. Con- 
sequently all the evils incident to a union between church 
and state were transplanted along with it. The moment the 
American Revolution broke us loose from the mother country, 
however, causes were put in operation to liberate us from 
those evils which were manifestly incidental." $ 

In the middle and eastern provinces there was better pro- 
vision for the spiritual wants of the people than in most parts 
of the South, yet even there in sections remote from the 
populous centres there was much need of religious facilities 
and agencies. Boardman made a lengthened tour, and says : 

* A Brief Narrative of the revival of religion in Virginia. In a letter to a friend. 
London, 1778. 

t Arminian Magazine, p. 379. London, 1778. 

X A Walk about Zion ; by the Rev. John A. Clark, D. D., p. 59. New York, 1843. 



140 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



" The rides are long, the roads bad, and the living very poor. 
In the greater part of this round the people were wicked and 
ignorant to a most lamentable degree, destitute of the fear 
and regardless of the worship of God." * 

There was much spiritual apathy in the eastern provinces. 
Respecting the churches of New England, the biographer 
of President Edwards says : "So vast a proportion of the 
first planters of this country were members of the Christian 
church, that not to be a church member was a public dis- 
grace, and no man who had not this qualification was consid- 
ered capable of holding any civil office. The children of the 
first planters, with comparatively few exceptions, followed the 
example of their parents and enrolled their names in the 
church calendar ; and there is reason to believe that a large 
proportion of them were possessed of real piety. Still there 
can be no doubt that a considerable number of them were of 
a different character. In the third and fourth generations the 
number of this latter class increased to such a degree as to 
constitute, if not a majority, yet a large minority of the whole 
population. But such is the influence of national customs it 
was still thought as necessary to a full qualification for office 
to make a public profession of religion as before ; and the 
church, by thus inclosing within its pale the whole rising gen- 
eration, gathered in a prodigious number of hypocrites, and 
to make a profession of religion began to be on the part of 
numbers an act of the same import as it has been on the part 
of the civil, military, and naval officers of England, ' to qual- 
ify ' by partaking of the Lord's Supper." 

Into this great country, which was yet to receive its na- 
tional form, and to become the chief theatre of evangelical 
Protestantism, Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor came 
in the fall of 1769 to make a contribution to it of Christian 
influence, truth, and service of which it was in sore need. 
Amid the already audible, though distant, thunder of the 
gathering Revolutionary tempest, they entered the land as 
divinely sent messengers of peace. They did not avert the 

* Letter of Richard Boardman to Mrs. Mary Thorn ; in Lockwood's Western 
Pioneers. 



THE MISSIONARIES IN PHILADELPHIA 141 



storm, but they did their part in preparing the colonies to 
abide it. Their coming was altogether opportune, and their 
work, as we shall see, was fruitful of important and enduring 
results. 

The two missionaries received very courteous attention 
from Captain Sparks during their voyage, and when they 
reached Philadelphia he cordially welcomed them to his 
home, and they were hospitably entertained by him and Mrs. 
Sparks. Of the captain's courtesy and hospitality Pilmoor 
remarks : " His generosity at the last was truly noble. May 
our God and Saviour abundantly reward and bless him for 
all his kindness to us in time and eternity." 

It was the intention of the missionaries to proceed imme- 
diately to New York, for they were not aware of the exist- 
ence of a Methodist society in Philadelphia. The zealous 
military preacher, however, had planted Methodism there in 
a sail-loft a year or two previously. 

While walking in a Philadelphia street, the newly ar- 
rived preachers were accosted by a man who had been a 
Methodist in Ireland, where he had seen Mr. Boardman. 
He told them intelligence of their arrival had been re- 
ceived, and that he was then out seeking them. He took 
them to his home. Thus Irish Methodism, which gave ori- 
gin to the Wesleyan movement in America, was, through one 
of its sons, the first to hail and welcome to the country Mr. 
Wesley's first missionaries. 

Captain Webb had been some days in Philadelphia 
when they arrived, and it was his privilege to greet them, 
perhaps in the home of the Irishman where they were tem- 
porary guests. Of their first interview with Webb, Pilmoor 
says : "In a little while Captain Webb came to us and gave 
us a hearty welcome to America. Our souls rejoiced to 
meet with such a valiant soldier of Jesus in this distant 
land, especially as he was a real Methodist." In the even- 
ing they attended St. Paul's church, and heard " a very use- 
ful sermon on ' Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away 
the sin of the world.' " The next day they opened their mis- 
sion with a sermon by Boardman "to a small but serious 



142 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



congregation, on the call of Abraham to go forth into the land 
of Canaan." The following clay Boarclman started for New 
York, leaving Pilmoor in Philadelphia " to try what might 
be done for the honor of God and the salvation of immortal 
souls." 

Of his journey to and arrival in New York Boardman 
promptly wrote to Mr. Wesley, under the date of November 
4, 1769, saying : " When I came to Philadelphia I found a 
little society and preached to a great number of people. I 
left brother Pilmoor there and set out for New York. Com- 
ing to a large town on my way, and seeing a barrack, I 
asked a soldier if there were any Methodists belonging to 
it ? 4 Oh, yes,' said he, ' we are all Methodists, that is, we 
should all be glad to hear a Methodist preach.' ' Well,' said 
I, ' tell them in the barrack that a Methodist preacher just 
come from England intends to preach here to-night.' He did 
so, and the inn was soon surrounded with soldiers. I asked, 
' Where do you think I can get a place to preach in ? ' (it be- 
ing then dark). One of them said, ' I will go and see if I can 
get the Presbyterian Meeting House.' He did so, and soon 
returned to tell me he had prevailed, and that the bell was 
just going to ring to let all the town know. A great company 
soon got together and seemed much affected. The next day 
I came to New York." Thus this herald of grace, who, while 
he was on his way to embark for Philadelphia, proclaimed the 
word which was so fruitful of blessing to Mary Redfern — and 
through her to her great son, Jabez Bunting, and through 
him to England and the world — now in America, sowed " be- 
side all waters." 

The condition of the Wesleyan work in New York, was 
found by the missionary to be very hopeful. " Our house," 
he erroneously says, " contains about seventeen hundred 
' hearers." Such a multitude could not have been in any 
manner, nor even the half thereof, seated within its walls. 
To what this obvious error is due — whether to the haste and 
oversight of the writer or to a mistake of the printer we 
know not. Dr. Stevens adopts the suggestion that the num- 
ber intended to be given by Boardman was seven rather than 



METHODISM AND COLORED PEOPLE 



143 



seventeen hundred. Even that number would have been an 
extravagant estimate of the chapel's capacity. " About a 
third of those who attend the preaching," continues Board- 
man, " get in, the rest are glad to hear without. There ap- 
pears such a willingness in the Americans to hear the Word 
as I never saw before. They have no preaching in some 
parts of the back settlements. I doubt not but an effectual 
door will be opened among them. Oh, may He now give His 
Son the heathen for His inheritance. 

" The number of blacks that attend the preaching affects 
me much. One of them came to tell me she could neither 
eat nor sleep, because her master would not suffer her to 
come to hear the word. She wept exceedingly, saying, ' I 
told my master I would do more work than ever I used to do 
if he would but let me come ; nay, that I would do every- 
thing in my power to be a good servant.' 

" I find a great want of every gift and grace for the great 
work before me. I should be glad of your advice. But, 
dear sir, what shall I say to almost everyone I see ? They 
ask, Does Mr. Wesley think he shall come over to see us ? " 

John Wesley seems to have considered seriously Board- 
man's question. He wrote to the Bev. Walter Sellon, from 
London, December 30, 1769— probably after he received 
Boardman's letter — and said : " It is not determined whether 
I should go to America or not. I have been importuned for 
some time, but nil sat firmi video. I must have a clear call 
before I am at liberty to leave Europe." Almost a year later 
he was still thinking of coming hither, as he shows in a letter 
of December 14, 1770, to Mrs. Marston, the autograph orig- 
inal of which, suitably framed, was presented to the New 
York Methodist Preachers' Meeting, by Bishop Wilson, of 
the Keformed Episcopal Church, through the Rev. Dr. J. O. 
Peck, on the centennial of Mr. Wesley's death, March 2, 
1891, after a historical address by the author of this work. 
In that letter Wesley says : " If I live till spring, and have a 
clear, pressing call, I am as ready to embark for America as 
for Ireland. All places are alike to me. I am attached to 
none in particular. Wherever the work of the Lord is to be 



144 THE VTESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

carried on, that is my place for to-day. And we live only for 
to-day ; it is not our part to take thought for to-morrow." 
The idea of sailing to America was still in Mr. Wesley's 
mind as late certainly as 1773, for on the second of March of 
that year he wrote Mr. Asbury, " that the time of his coming 
over to America is not yet, being detained by the building of 
a chapel." * The " clear call " to visit America seems not to 
have come to the illustrious evangelist whose parish was the 
world. Had he been convinced that duty beckoned him 
hither, he certainly would have dared the storms and floods 
of the ocean, notwithstanding he had passed the life-mark of 
" three score years and ten." He wrote to Whitefield as we 
shall see of the appeals he received from New York and 
Philadelphia to visit America, and of his serious considera- 
tion of the same. 

Shortly after his arrival in New York, Boardman and the 
authorities of the society made a compact concerning the 
labors of the preachers there and the pecuniary compensation 
they should receive. This compact is on record in the " Old 
Book " of John Street, and is as follows : " Mr. Richard 
Boardman, assistant to and preacher in connection with the 
Rev. John Wesley, also Philip Embury, local preacher, and 
William Lupton, trustee and steward (in New York), think- 
ing it necessary that some regulations should be made for 
the preachers in New York, agreed, on the first of November, 
1769 : First, that each preacher, having labored three months 
in New York, shall receive three guineas to provide them- 
selves with wearing apparel. Secondly, that there shall be 
preaching on Sunday morning and Sunday evening ; also on 
Tuesday and Thursday evenings ; and the preacher to meet 
the society every Wednesday evening." There does not ap- 
pear to be extant any account of such an arrangement with 
the society in Philadelphia. Pilmoor says nothing of an 
agreement respecting work and compensation there. The 
primitive records of that society, unlike those of New York, 
did not escape oblivion. 

In the evening of the day of Boardman's departure for 

* Asbury' s Journal, vol. i., p. 72. 



EIRST AMERICAN WESLEY AN PREACHER 



145 



New York, Pilrnoor preached in Philadelphia. He describes 
his congregation as " fine " and " attentive," but he says : " I 
was greatly straitened in my own mind, and felt but very lit- 
tle freedom. God was pleased to humble me by leaving me 
to myself and made me ashamed of my own unworthiness. 
Others may, perhaps, preach very fluently and with great ac- 
curacy without any assistance from above, but that is noth- 
ing to me. I find it an easy matter to talk, but to preach the 
gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven is widely 
different." Pilrnoor became quickly and fully employed in 
ministerial labor. 

It has heretofore been held that William Watters was 
the first Methodist itinerant in America and that Richard 
Owings, otherwise called Owen, was a preacher before him. 
In his " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church " Dr. 
Abel Stevens says Richard Owen was " the first native Metho- 
dist preacher of the Continent, who labored faithfully and 
successfully as a local preacher for some years." Pilmoor's 
Journal shows that there was a laborer in the American 
Wesleyan field before either of those evangelists appeared 
therein. A man, hitherto almost unknown to history, ap- 
pears entitled to the distinction of having been the first in 
the vast series of Methodist preachers thrust forth in Amer- 
ica. Five days after Pilmoor's arrival, namely, on October 
26, 1769, in Philadelphia he wrote of an interview with 
him thus : "I spent an hour in the morning very comfort- 
ably with Edward Evans, an old disciple of Jesus, and one 
who has stood fast in the faith for nearly thirty years. He 
is a man of good understanding and sound experience in the 
things of God, and his conversation was both entertaining 
and profitable." Evans, according to Pilrnoor, was a con- 
vert of Whitefield, and after the arrival of the two Wesley an 
missionaries he became united with them in fellowship and 
labor. He was closely identified with the Philadelphia so- 
ciety, and his name appears, as we shall see, in the deed of 
its first church. He preached there and in contiguous 
places, and he especially itinerated in New Jersey. He died 
before a Conference was held in the country, and, therefore, 



146 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IjNT AMERICA 



had no opportunity to be honored with a record in the of- 
ficial documents of the new movement. We shall meet him 
at various times in the course of our narrative. 

After his interview with Mr. Evans, Pilmoor, in company 
with Captain Webb, called upon the Rev. Mr. Stringer, rector 
of St. Paul's, who received them very courteously. Pilmoor 
says Mr. Stringer's ministry had been " greatly blessed in 
the city and many added to the Church." He wrote of 
him to Mr. Wesley in a way which suggests that he was not 
unknown to the latter. " I have been to visit Mr. Stringer, 
who is very well," says Pilmoor to Wesley. " He bears a 
noble testimony to our blessed Jesus, and I hope God does 
bless him." It is suggested in the London Methodist Maga- 
zine of 1818 (page 641) that Stringer was originally a Metho- 
dist preacher but was ordained in the Church of England. 
He is elsewhere represented as having come to Philadelphia 
with a recommendation from Whitefield, and it is also re- 
lated that St. Paul's Church received him as rector, but re- 
turned him to England for ordination as a qualification for 
filling the position. He seems to have held fraternal rela- 
tions with the Methodists in Philadelphia. 



CHAPTEK III. 

MINISTRY OF PILMOOR, WEBB, AND WILLIAMS IN PHILADELPHIA 
IN THE FALL OF 1769 — PURCHASE OF ST. GEORGE'S. 

The first Sunday of Pilmoor's ministry in Philadelphia, 
October 29, 1769, was filled with activity. At seven in the 
morning he met " a fine congregation," to whom he dis- 
coursed on the first Psalm. Afterward he went to St. 
Paul's and heard a " profitable sermon by Mr. Stringer." 
Having advertised preaching on the common adjoining the 
city at five o'clock, he repaired to the place, where he found 
a vast multitude of people. He ascended " the stage erected 
for the horse race and was presently surrounded with several 
thousands of genteel persons, who," he says, " behaved with 
the utmost attention while I declared Christ Jesus the Proph- 
et, Priest, and King of his people." Stevens says Pilmoor 
opened his ministry "from the steps of the old State-house." 
This, obviously, is an error. Pilmoor mentions only three 
occasions before this on the common, that he preached in the 
city. Two were in the evening, the other at seven o'clock on 
Sunday morning, and he gives no hint that any one of these 
meetings was held at the State-house. 

After the open-air service at the race-ground Pilmoor 
met the little society in their " own room, and exhorted them 
to walk worthy of their high calling." He closed the day 
with this record : " This was the first Sabbath I spent in 
America and it was truly a delight. My soul was abundantly 
blessed in preaching the word of life to others, and seemed 
perfectly willing to sacrifice everything for their good." 

In a letter to Mr. Wesley, written two days later, namely, 

October 31, 1769, he states that the number of his hearers 

on the common was four or five thousand. In the same 
11 



148 THE WESLEY A 1ST MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

epistle he also says the society in Philadelphia comprised 
about one hundred persons who desired to be in close con- 
nection with "Wesley. The day before he wrote this letter 
he notes in his Journal that he preached " at five o'clock 
in the morning." In the letter to Mr. Wesley the next day 
he says : " When I began to talk of preaching at five in 
the morning the people thought it would not answer in 
America. However, I resolved to try and I had a very 
good congregation. There seems to be a great and effectual 
door open in this country and I hope many souls will be 
gathered in. The people in general like to hear the word, 
and seem to have ideas of salvation by grace." 

On the Monday evening following his first Sabbath in 
the city, the room in which the Philadelphia society wor- 
shipped was " well crowded and God gave his blessing to 
the word." After the public meeting concluded, " I spoke," 
says Pilmoor, " with several persons who have a work of 
grace in their souls, and are panting after the liberty of the 
Sons of God. In America as well as in England there are 
witnesses of free salvation who have their part in the first 
resurrection and are partakers of vital religion." 

On his way from New York to Maryland Robert Williams 
called upon Mr. Pilmoor in Philadelphia and joined him in 
the work of the ministry there. " During his stay in the 
city," says Pilmoor, " he preached several times and seemed 
to have a real desire to do good. His gifts are but small, yet 
he may be useful to the country people, who are, in general, 
like sheep without shepherds." The fact of "Williams start- 
ing for Maryland almost immediately after Boardman's ar- 
rival in New York suggests that the latter sent him to rein- 
force Strawbridge southward. 

Captain Webb was in Philadelphia on November 4, 1769, 
having come up from Wilmington, where he had been on a 
brief visit. He brought joyful tidings of men turned " from 
darkness into light." Thus, both Webb and Williams must 
have been with Pilmoor at this time. The next day was the 
second Sunday of Pilmoor's ministry in Philadelphia. At 
seven in the morning Webb preached " an excellent sermon 



PILMOOR AND WILLIAMS 



149 



on poverty of spirit." Then a blessed time was enjoyed at 
St. Paul's at the sacrament. " My soul," says Pilmoor, " did 
eat Christ's flesh and drink His blood and found it meat in- 
deed." As on the previous Sunday he preached from the 
stage of the race-course, so now he signalized the second 
Sunday of his mission by preaching in the public market. 
Of this occasion he wrote : "At two o'clock I preached to 
some thousands of people in the new Market, who all be- 
haved as if they felt the awful presence of God." He had 
another service at six, at which he " read and explained the 
Rules of the Society to a vast multitude of serious people," 
and was much cheered by the encouraging aspect of the 
field. He exultingly says : " God has opened a great and 
effectual door in this place for the preaching of his gospel. 
Of all that I have seen in England and Wales, where I have 
travelled, nothing was equal to this. The word runs from 
heart to heart and from house to house in such a manner that 
I am filled with wonder and with praise." 

Robert Williams was yet in the city, and November 6, 
1769, " after preaching at five in the morning," Pilmoor, 
writes "Mr. Williams set off to Maryland. As he is very 
sincere and zealous I trust that God will make him a burning 
and a shining light in that dark part of the country, where 
the poor people have been so long neglected that they are 
quite ignorant of the gospel way of salvation." 

Pilmoor, as these words show, knew something of the con- 
dition of things in Maryland already, and they afford cor- 
roboration of his suggestion of Webb's connection with the 
beginning of the work in that province. When he got as 
far south as Wilmington, the enthusiastic soldier evangelist 
would be apt to go further, especially if he heard of Straw- 
bridge's work. And if he had joined Strawbridge in his 
southern labors he probably would have related the fact to 
Pilmoor. Apparently as we shall in a moment see this was 
the case. 

The Philadelphia newspapers of the period show that 
business intercourse was established between it and Western 
Maryland. Most of the commerce of the middle colonies 



150 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



south of the Hudson centred in Philadelphia. The com- 
munication between it and Maryland, occasioned by the 
business conditions of the country, rendered it almost inevit- 
able that the first Wesleyan pioneers should also pass back 
and forth between that province and Philadelphia, and this 
they actually did. 

Stevens, in the first volume of his " History of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church" (p. 103), erroneously asserts that 
Williams joined King as well as Strawbridge " southward." 
In truth, King was never in America until nine months after 
Kobert Williams went to Maryland. 

Almost simultaneously with the reinforcement of Embury 
and Webb in New York and Philadelphia, by Wesley's first 
duly sent missionaries, Strawbridge in Maryland was rein- 
forced by a valiant knight of the Cross, wh(5 arrived from 
Europe a few weeks before them. There is now a strong 
advance movement. With Boardman, Pilmoor, Webb, and 
Embury in the cities, and with Strawbridge and Williams in 
Maryland, the promise of wider and richer conquests bright- 
ens and strengthens. Edward Evans, too, is about to put on 
the Wesleyan armor and with the trump of the new evangel 
sound the battle signal in New Jersey. Altogether, in the 
closing weeks of the year 1769 the skies were radiant with 
hope and auguries of victory for the young Methodism of 
America. 

At this time the work was spreading in Delaware and in 
Maryland. Pilmoor, on November 4, 1769, says : " Captain 
Webb came on from Wilmington and brought us tidings 
that Jesus the great Shepherd had blessed his labors in the 
gospel and made them successful in turning men from dark- 
ness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. The 
work of God begun by him and Mr. Strawbridge, a local 
preacher from Ireland, soon spread through the greater part 
of Baltimore County, and several hundreds of people were 
brought to repentance and turned unto the Lord." In 1791 
Freeborn Garrettson published his "Experience and Travels," 
in which volume he says : " Between the seventeenth and 
eighteenth years of my age I left school. About this time 



GARRETTSON MEETS THE METHODISTS 



151 



it was that there began to be much said of the people called 
Methodists in Baltimore County, where I lived." As he was 
seventeen years old August 15, 1769,, it would appear that 
about the latter part of the same year the Methodist revival 
excited much attention in Baltimore County. It is apparent 
from what Pilmoor above says, that it was extending there 
in 1769, and he strongly intimates that Webb had given im- 
pulse to it. Garrettson says : " Many went out to hear 
them, and I among the rest. The place was so crowded I 
could not get into the house, but from what I could under- 
stand I thought they preached the truth, and did by no means 
dare to join with the multitude in persecuting them, but 
thought I would let them alone and keep close to my own 
church. One day as I was riding home I met a young man 
who had been hearing the Methodists and had got his heart 
touched under the word. He stopped me in the road and 
began to talk so sweetly about Jesus and his people, and 
recommended Him to me in such a winning manner, that I 
was deeply convinced there was a reality in that religion, and 
that it was time for me to think seriously on the matter." * 
Garrettson, however, did not become a Methodist, until some 
years subsequently. Yet, in this passage, he gives a vivid 
glimpse of the movement in Maryland about 1769-70. Led- 
num says that not many years before 1859 persons were liv- 
ing who heard Captain Webb preach in the woods in the 
north end of Wilmington. 

Williams, as we have seen, preached in Philadelphia at 
five o'clock in the morning, November 6, 1769, and then 
started for Maryland. The same evening Pilmoor preached 
to a large congregation from a very assuring text, namely : 
" The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, 
even the Lord whom ye delight in, behold he shall come." 
He met a small company of people after the service and 
" spoke to them about the state of their souls. One of them 
lived as a servant with a family of rigid predestinarians, who 
had taken much pains to keep her from hearing the Method- 
ists. But she told them the Methodists showed her the 

* The Experience and Travels of Freeborn Garrettson, pp. 13, 14. 



152 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

way to heaven by faith in Christ Jesus, and if they could 
point out a better way she would never go to hear them 
more. This put them to a stand ; so she resolved to go for- 
ward in that way wherein she had found benefit to her soul." 

Those days early in November, 1769, were rich in experi- 
ence, work, and success in the city of Brotherly Love. In- 
deed a revival was already in progress. " The Lord," says 
Pilmoor, " was remarkably present at our public meetings 
during the whole of this week " — November 5th and 11th in- 
clusive. " I generally preach twice a day," he continues, 
" besides meeting classes and conversing with people about 
the state of their souls. Nine persons were admitted into 
society and one found peace with God. The Lord is making 
bare his arm in the sight of the heathen and many of the 
poor Africans are obedient to the faith. On Saturday night 
the people crowded into the room as long as they could and 
many were obliged to stand without in the street while I ex- 
plained and applied the words of the Baptist : ' Whose fan 
is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and 
gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn the chaff 
with unquenchable fire.' " 

Following this preaching service was held what would 
perhaps now be termed an " after-meeting." It was com- 
posed of the young people, " one of whom was deeply af- 
fected and groaned for redemption through the blood of the 
Lamb." Captain Webb was with them, " and he was greatly 
drawn out in prayer to God " for the conversion of the 
mourner. To all this Pilmoor was not indifferent. " As I 
sat in my room," he says, " my mind was impressed with a 
strong desire to go down and join with them. I did so, and 
it was indeed a time of great life and power. The poor 
creatures cried out in the bitterness of their souls for an in- 
terest in the blood of atonement and would not rest without 
a blessing from God. I stood and wondered at the amazing 
goodness of God, that he should condescend to work by such 
an unworthy instrument." Such an outbreak of revival was 
inspiring to the new missionary, and he exulted in witnessing 
its victorious progress. 



PILMOOR PREACHES IN THE JAIL 



153 



Webb still stands with Pilmoor in the front of the battle 
in Philadelphia, as he had stood by Embury in New York. 
The third Sunday of Pilmoor's labors in Philadelphia, which 
was November 12th, was a day of remarkable interest. " God 
blessed the labors of Mr. Webb," writes Pilmoor, " and made 
his word in the mouth of his servant spirit and life to the 
people. In the evening a great number attended while I ex- 
plained and applied his holy word. They hear as for their 
lives. Many that could not possibly squeeze into the house 
stood without and waited all the time, notwithstanding the 
cold. At the general society the house was quite full. The 
people are so in earnest for the word that there is no getting 
them away. Many come to me daily to inquire after the 
way of salvation, and are determined not to rest without the 
peace of God. The dear Immanuel is exalted and my soul 
exults in his salvation." 

While the revival was thus advancing under the fervid 
and eloquent ministrations of Pilmoor, reinforced as he had 
been by those sons of thunder Thomas Webb and Kobert 
Williams, he was moved by the spiritual destitution of the 
criminals in duress in Philadelphia to bear to them the di- 
vine message. Accordingly on November 14, 1769, after 
his sermon at 5 in the morning, he "went to the jail and 
preached to the poor sinners in that place of misery and dis- 
tress." 

In its primitive period in America Methodism was distin- 
guished by its proclamation of the gospel to the profligate 
and the poor. I have shown that in the initial stage of his 
New York ministry, Embury located his pulpit in a notori- 
ously vicious section of the city and also sought out the 
helpless victims of poverty in the poor-house ; so now, be- 
fore the lapse of a month after Wesley's missionaries first 
uplifted the evangelical standard in this country, one of 
them was in the Philadelphia jail, " proclaim ing liberty to 
the captives and the opening of the prison to them that were 
bound." The prisoners, " all behaved with the utmost at- 
tention. The word seemed to sink into their hearts and evi- 
dence itself to their consciences as the truth of God." The 



154 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEBIC A 



Wesleyan movement, by its very genius, was a glad evangel 
to the wretched and the outcast. Like Him whom it exalted 
Methodism went to them that were lost. Its most brilliant 
successes have been achieved when it has most closely ad- 
hered to its original spirit and purpose. 

Pilmoor's fourth Sunday in Philadelphia was, he says " a 
day of salvation. Both in the morning and in the evening 
God gave his blessing to the word and made it to work effect- 
ually in the hearts of the people." Nor did he intermit his 
work when the sabbath was over. He was at the head of the 
reapers in the ripe harvest and was constantly busy, " bring- 
ing in the sheaves." " The three following days," he writes, 
" I had many blessed opportunities of preaching Christ Jesus 
the Lord, and my poor labors were owned, especially among 
the prisoners. My soul is so drawn out with love to souls 
that I am willing to spend my very life in doing them good. 
Some ministers who preach for the sake of worldly advan- 
tage are careful to avoid too much duty, but I find duty is 
my delight and the more I preach the better I like the em- 
ployment." 

Up to this time the Philadelphia Methodists had no house 
of worship. In the early days of the society, which I sup- 
pose included the first weeks that Pilmoor was with them, they 
met " in a pothouse in Loxley's Court, which was a passage 
running from Arch to Cherry Street near Fourth." * The 
place was much too small for the accommodation of the peo- 
ple that gathered to hear the eloquent Wesleyan preacher 
who had now completed the first month of his mission in the 
city. He and his valiant band were embarrassed by their 
success. Provision had to be made for the growing audi- 
tories. Thursday, November 23, 1769, " we met," says Pil- 
moor, " to consult about getting a more convenient place to 
preach in. That we had would not contain half of the peo- 
ple who wished to hear the word, and the winter was ap- 
proaching so that they could not stand without. Several 
places were mentioned and application was made to no pur- 
pose. Though the ministers in general were pretty quiet 

* Watson's Annals of Philadelphia. 



A CHURCH SECURED 



155 



they did not approve of our preaching in their pulpits. In 
this I could not blame them, especially as we form a society 
of our owe distinct from them and their congregations. 
What we should do I could not determine. Ground to 
build upon might have been easily purchased, but we 
had no money, and besides we wanted the place imme- 
diately." 

A singular conjuncture of circumstances made it possible 
for Pilmoor and the society to purchase a church edifice 
which its projectors had not been able to finish nor to keep. 
This opportunity issued in a happy relief of the straitened 
Methodists. " We came to an agreement," says the mis- 
sionary, " to purchase a very large shell of a church that was 
built by the Dutch Presbyterians and left unfinished for want 
of money. As the poor people had ruined themselves and 
their families by building it they were obliged to sell it to 
pay their creditors. It was put up at public auction and 
sold for seven hundred pounds, though it cost more than 
two thousand." Thus a new temple, of ample proportions, 
was prepared for the Methodist congregation of Philadelphia 
most opportunely, grievous as was the calamity of which its 
walls were the pathetic memorial. " The church," says Pil- 
moor, "was built to support a party. They spent their 
fortunes and were thrown into jail for debt. The church 
was appointed to be sold by an act of the Assembly. A gen- 
tleman's son who was non compus mentis happened to step 
into the auction room and bought it. His father wanted to 
be off of the bargain, but could not without proving the in- 
sanity of his son. Rather than attempt this, he was willing 
to lose fifty pounds by the job. Thus the Lord provided for 
us. Our way was made plain and we resolved to purchase 
the place, which we did for six hundred and fifty pounds. 
How wonderful the dispensations of Providence ! Surely 
the very hairs of our heads are numbered." In the first vol- 
ume of his " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church " 
(see pages 66 and 120) Stevens says the church in Philadel- 
phia was procured in 1770. We now know it was bought by 
the Methodist Society in 1769. As we shall hereafter see, 



156 THE WESLEY AN" MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



however, the regular legal conveyance of the property was 
not completed until June of the next year. 

The new edifice, afterward known as Saint George's, was 
eighty-five feet long and fifty-five feet wide. The persons 
who built it, says Lednuni, " we have been informed, were or 
had been members of the German Reformed congregation at 
the corner of Fourth and Sassafras Street." He also relates 
a tradition of the bankrupt projectors of the structure being 
in prison for debt and when " their acquaintances inquired of 
them as they looked through the prison windows, ' For what 
were you put in jail ? ' they answered, 1 for building a church.' 
To go to jail for the pious deed of building a church became 
a proverb in the city of Brotherly Love." 

The society, led by their ardent preacher, moved very rap- 
idly in securing the building. They met to consult " about 
getting a more convenient place to preach in on the twenty- 
third of November " and the next day they gathered for 
worship in the new temple. This was Friday, thought by 
the superstitious to be an unlucky day. John Wesley has 
declared that the religion of the Methodists is " no more 
pure from heresy than it is from superstition." Those brave 
pioneers of the Wesleyan movement which was destined to 
overspread North America were not hindered by an idle 
superstition. Therefore on Friday, November 24, 1769, the 
standard of Christ w T as uplifted within the bare walls of the 
church on Fourth Street, which has ever since been a con- 
spicuous fortress of Methodism. This notable occasion was 
well improved by Pilmoor, who says, "I preached in the new 
church to a numerous congregation with great freedom of 
mind. God gave me liberty of spirit to open that noble 
passage of scripture : ' Who art thou, O great mountain ? 
Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, and he shall 
bring the head-stone thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, 
Grace, unto it.' Peradventure that God who enabled him to 
finish the temple at Jerusalem, will by his providence and 
blessing make way for us to finish the church we have bought 
and set apart for his praise." The next day Pilmoor again 
preached from the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



pllmoor's first term in st. george's, Philadelphia ; assist- 
ed BY WEBB AND STRAWBRIDGE. 

In the preceding chapter was described the successful en- 
deavor of the Methodists in Philadelphia to procure a house 
of worship. We have seen them assembling within it, and 
now we come to witness their first sabbath convocation 
therein. 

It was the twenty-sixth of November, 1769. A multitude 
thronged within the spacious walls of St. George's on that event- 
ful day. Captain Webb, the founder of the society, appropri- 
ately preached the morning sermon. " God was present," 
writes Pilmoor, " and gave his blessing to the ministry of Mr. 
Webb. In the evening we had about two thousand hearers 
who waited with attention still as night, while I opened and 
applied the parable of the talents. After preaching I made 
a collection toward paying for the church, and got above six- 
teen pounds. This is a blessing from the Lord and I trust 
it will redound to his glory. Very many attended at the 
public society, a great concern seemed to be among them, 
and nothing will satisfy them but the knowledge of salvation 
by the remission of sins." This vivid description of the w r ork 
of the first sabbath in the new church strikingly recalls the 
impressive scenes of the memorable day. 

Mechanics were at once engaged to adapt the building to 
the holy use to which it had been consecrated. While it was 
under the hands of the workmen, the improvement of the 
spiritual temple advanced. The days immediately succeed- 
ing the Sunday we have just contemplated were busy ones 
in the new edifice. " During the rest of this week," says 
Pilmoor, " we had good congregations in general ; the Lord 



158 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



was present in our meetings, and gave his word success. My 
time was fully taken up — in the day with the workmen we 
had employed to make alterations in the church ; in the 
evening preaching the everlasting gospel." 

St. George's has been called the Methodist Cathedral. 
For many years it was the largest Wesleyan structure in the 
land. It was occupied by the Philadelphia society in but 
little over a year after the opening of the New York chapel. 
There is ground for the belief that it was the second house 
of worship owned by the Methodists in this country. It 
is the only existing church of the denomination that was 
built before the outbreak of the Revolution. The original 
" preaching house " in New York was demolished in 1817, 
but that in Philadelphia, which first resounded with the voice 
of Joseph Pilmoor on the twenty-fourth of November, 1769, 
is yet a Wesleyan temple. In the revolutionary war it was 
desecrated by British troops, who used it for a riding-school. 
Its walls were somewhat mutilated by a fire which threat- 
ened its destruction in 1865, but the breaches made by the 
flames were mended, and St. George's stands the most con- 
spicuous and impressive architectural memorial of American 
Methodist antiquity. Except three to four years it has stood 
throughout the whole period of the existence of Methodism 
in America. Unless ravaged by fire or shattered by earth- 
quake, it probably will remain through the twentieth cen- 
tury monumental of a heroic and glorious epoch of Christian 
propagandism. Its beneficent influence has reached to the 
four quarters of the earth. In that sacred fabric are en- 
shrined the faith, tears, and work of Thomas Webb, Joseph 
Pilmoor, Richard Boardman, Edward Evans, and their co- 
adjutors and successors, and from its altars have gone forth 
thousands of converts who " have fought the good fight," and 
have triumphantly swept through the gates of solid pearl 
into the City of pure Gold. 

The second Sunday the Methodists of Philadelphia 
spent in their new sanctuary was a day of extraordinary 
significance. It was the first Sunday of December, 1769. 
The sermon in the morning was preached by Captain Webb, 



pilmoor' s important statement in st. george's 159 

and it "was attended with power." In the evening Pilmoor 
preached to a crowded assembly on the final judgment. The 
deportment of the people was consonant with the solemnity 
of the theme. The citizens of Philadelphia generally were 
impressed favorably by the new movement, for the fervent 
preacher declares : " The people in general behave to us 
with the utmost respect and civility, not only in the church 
while we worship Jehovah, but in all other places. This is 
the Lord's doing and justly demands our heartiest praises." 

That which gave peculiar distinction to this second sab- 
bath in St. George's was a declaration by Pilmoor of the 
"faith and body of principles " of the Methodists. Scarcely 
more than forty days had passed since the first itinerant dep- 
utation of Wesley arrived from London. Less than four 
years previously Barbara Heck thrust Philip Embury forth 
upon his gospel mission in New York. Robert Strawbridge 
had not long been sounding the trump of the new awakening 
in Maryland. Only a year or two had elapsed since Captain 
Webb began his fruitful evangelical labors in Philadelphia. 
Methodism was a novelty to the people, and its progress ex- 
cited interest and inquiry. It was liable to suffer from mis- 
apprehension and misrepresentation. Now that.it had come 
into a conspicuous position in Philadelphia by the occupancy 
of a church whose calamitous history, together with its 
prominent situation, made it an object of note, Pilmoor 
wisely determined that the people should be informed con- 
cerning the nature and design of Methodism, and of the pur- 
pose contemplated by the mission of his associate and him- 
self in this country. In his Journal, he says : 

" As I would not wish to do anything that would not bear 
the light, nor even mislead nor impose upon people, I re- 
solved to lay before the congregation the only design we had 
in coming to America, and the reason of our buying the 
church; that they might be able to judge for themselves 
whether they ought to encourage us or not. Accordingly I 
read in public the following particulars : 

" 1. That the Methodist society was never designed to 



160 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



make a separation from the Church of England, or to be 
looked upon as a Church. 

" 2. That it was at first and is still intended for the bene- 
fit of all those of every denomination, who being truly con- 
vinced of sin and the danger they are exposed to, earnestly 
desire to flee from the wrath to come. 

" 3. That any person who is so convinced, and desires 
admittance into the society, will readily be received as a pro- 
bationer. 

" 4. That those who walk according to the oracles of God, 
and thereby give proof of their sincerity, will readily be ad- 
mitted into full connection with the Methodists. 

" 5. That if any person or persons in the society walk 
disorderly and transgress the holy law of God, we will ad- 
monish him of his error ; we will strive to restore him in the 
spirit of meekness ; we will bear with him for a time ; but 
if he remain incorrigible and impenitent, we must then of 
necessity inform him that he is no longer a member of the 
society. 

" 6. That the church now purchased is for the use of the 
society for the public worship of Almighty God. 

"7. That a subscription will immediately be set on foot 
to defray the debt upon the said church, and an exact ac- 
count kept of all the benefactions for that purpose. 

" 8. That the deeds of settlement shall be made as soon 
as convenient exactly according to the plan of the settlement 
of all the Methodist chapels in England, Scotland and Ire- 
land. 

" I then told the people we left our native land, not with 
a design to make divisions among them, or to promote a 
schism, but to gather together in one the people of God that 
are scattered abroad, and revive spiritual religion. This is 
our one point ; Christ who died for us to live in us and reign 
over us in all things." 

This declaration furnished a just view of the Wesleyan 
platform. Mr. Wesley did not intend that his societies should 
be separated from the Church of England. His utterances 



HOW THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT BEGAN 161 

herein were positive and emphatic. He loyally adhered to 
the church and counselled his followers so to do. They were 
simply joined into societies under the quasi tutelage of the 
Church of England. 

In his " Reasons for not Separating from the Church," 
Wesley said that the chief design of God's " providence in 
sending us out is undoubtedly to quicken our brethren. And 
the first message of all our preachers is to the lost sheep of 
the Church of England. Now would it not be a flat contradic- 
tion of this design to separate from the Church ? It has been 
objected that till we do separate we cannot be a compact, 
united body. It is true we cannot till then be a compact, 
united body, if you mean by that expression, a body distinct 
from all others ; and we have no desire to be so." 

The Wesley s originally "had no plan at all. They only 
went hither and thither wherever they had a prospect of sav- 
ing souls from death. But when more and more asked ' What 
must I do to be saved ? ' they were desired to meet all to- 
gether. Twelve came the first Thursday night ; forty the 
next ; soon after a hundred. And they continued to in- 
crease." * 

When the number of those who came together reached 
about a hundred Wesley " took down their names and places 
of abode, intending as often as it was convenient to call upon 
them at their own houses. Thus without any previous plan 
or design began the Methodist society in England ; a com- 
pany of people associating together to help each other to work 
out their own salvation."f Mr. Wesley also says that "it 
was one of our original rules that every member of our society 
should attend the Church and Sacrament, unless he had been 
~bred among Christians of any other denomination." X The 
early American Methodists adhered to the rule concerning 
attendance upon the sacrament at the Episcopal Church. 

Respecting the adherence of the Methodists to the English 
Church Mr. Wesley uttered the following explicit words : 
" The Methodists (so termed) know their calling. They 
weighed the matter at first and determined to continue in the 

* Wesley's Sermons, vol. ii., p. 391. t Ibid., p. 493. % Ibid., p. 369. 



162 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Church. Since that time they have not wanted temptations 
of every kind to alter their resolution. They have heard 
abundance said upon the subject, perhaps all that can be said. 
They have read the writings of the most eminent pleaders for 
separation, both in the last and the present century. They 
have spent several days in a general Conference upon this 
very question, ' Is it expedient (supposing, not granting, that 
it is laivful) to separate from the established Church? ' But 
still they could see no sufficient cause to depart from their 
first resolution. So that their fixed purpose is, let the clergy 
use them well or ill, by the grace of God to endure all things, 
to hold on their even course, and to continue in the Church, 
maugre men or devils, unless God permits them to be thrust 
out." * The Wesleyan Conference in Bristol in 1768 bore 
the following testimony on this subject, which is on record 
in the minutes thereof : " Let us keep to the Church. Over 
and above all the reasons that were formerly given for this 
we add another, now from long experience. They that leave 
the church leave the Methodists. The clergy cannot sepa- 
rate us from our brethren, the dissenting ministers can and 
do. Therefore carefully avoid whatever has a tendency to 
separate men from the Church. In particular preaching at 
any hour that hinders them from going to it." 

In relation to a possibility of its being said that God could 
have made the Methodists " a separate people like the Mora- 
vian brethren," Mr. Wesley asserts that " this would have 
been a direct contradiction to His whole design in raising 
them up ; namely, to spread scriptural religion throughout 
the land, among people of every denomination, leaving every 
one to hold his own opinions and to follow his own mode of 
worship." Furthermore he says: "Nothing can be more 
simple, nothing more rational than the Methodist disci- 
pline. It is entirely founded on common sense, particular- 
ly applying the general rules of scripture. Any person de- 
termined to save his soul, may be united (this is the only 
condition required) with them. But this desire must be 
evidenced by three marks: avoiding all known sin; doing 

* Wesley's Sermons, vol. i., pp. 496-97. 



c. wesley's statement of the methodist plan 163 

good after his power ; and attending all the ordinances of 
God."* 

Charles Wesley was thoroughly loyal to the Church of Eng- 
land and as firmly opposed to the separation from it of the 
Methodists as his brother. In a letter, dated April 28, 1785, 
to Dr. Chandler, a New Jersey clergyman who spent some years 
in England, Charles said of himself and his brother John: 
" We had no plan but to serve God and the Church of Eng- 
land. My brother drew up rules for our society, one of which 
was constantly to attend the Church prayers and sacrament. 
When we were no longer permitted to preach in the Churches, 
we preached (but never in Church hours) in houses or fields 
and sent from thence, or rather carried, multitudes to Church, 
who had never been there before. Our society in most places 
made the bulk of the congregation both at prayers and sacra- 
ment. 

" I never lost my dread of a separation, or ceased to guard 
our society against it. I told them, ' I am your servant as 
long as you remain members of the Church of England, but 
no longer. Should you ever forsake her you renounce me.' 
Some of our lay preachers very early discovered an inclina- 
tion to separate which induced my brother to publish 
Reasons against Separation. If any one did leave the Church 
at the same time he left our society. For fifty years we kept 
the sheep in the fold." 

It is apparent then that Pilmoor's exposition of the place 
and purpose of Methodism in America correctly represented 
the plan of the Wesley s. He embodied in a succinct sum- 
mary the essential ideas of Wesley anism. Man a sinner, and 
as such in danger of the wrath to come ; Christ's substitutional 
death ; His kingship in the believer ; the word of God the 
rule of human conduct ; and the necessity of obedience to the 
divine law ; all of these truths were indicated in the historic 
declaration made by Joseph Pilmoor in St. George's, Phila- 
delphia, December 3, 1769. The Wesleyan banner was now 
publicly upborne in the Quaker city, and the inhabitants 
were apprised of its significance. 

* Wesley's Sermons, vol. ii., p. 392. • 

12 



161 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEBICA 



The next clay, December 4, 1769, many persons spoke 
with the missionary on sacred themes. One was a man from 
the country. " In our conversation," says Pilmoor, "I hap- 
pened to mention the Bev. John Wesley. ' O,' said he, ' I 
don't like him.' 

"'Why so?' 

" ' He preaches works too much.' 

" ' That is hardly possible, provided they are presented 
as the fruits of faith, for by them a true faith is as evidently 
known as a tree by the fruit.' " 

An example of the doctrine which Pilmoor proclaimed 
from the Wesleyan pulpit in Philadelphia is shown in the 
following reference to the sermon he delivered on the first 
Sunday evening in January, 1770. " I preached," he writes, 
"to a prodigious multitude on Abraham offering up Isaac, 
and found my soul exceedingly happy in speaking to the peo- 
ple of God on imitating the patriarch, and giving up all unto 
God. How wonderful is the power of obedient love ! It 
makes the service of God a perfect freedom and every duty 
delightfully pleasant to the saints. When we consider the 
faith and love of Abraham, the severe trials with which he 
was exercised, and the glorious victory he obtained, we can- 
not but admire the infinite riches of grace, and that divine 
power by which he overcame. But when we view the 
amazing love of God to mankind, and see him deliver his 
darling son who was infinitely dearer to Him than all the 
angels in Heaven to suffering and shame and pain and 
death for a guilty world, 'tis beyond the power of expres- 
sion and far exceeds the utmost stretch of human concep- 
tion. Hear it ye flaming Seraphim, and all ye hosts of 
angels that adore around his lofty throne, 'God so loved 
the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth in Him might not perish but have everlast- 
ing life.' " 

It is evident that Pilmoor maintained clearly and elo- 
quently in America the chief doctrine of the Reformation, 
and of the Wesleys, namely, the justification of the repentant 
sinner by faith. He proclaimed Jesus in his atoning death 



boardman' s evangelical teaching 



165 



and mediation as the only hope of sinful men. The theme 
of his ministry was " Christ crucified." 

The foundations of the great Wesleyan structure in Amer- 
ica which were laid by humble lay hands before the arrival of 
Pilmoor and Boardman, were by their labors enlarged and 
strengthened. They were not incapable hirelings, but able 
ministers of the New Testament. We have less knowledge 
of Boardman than of his associate, yet we know enough to 
warrant the belief that he was "a faithful minister of Christ." 
In one of his autograph letters written in New York to Mrs. 
Thorn, of Philadelphia, he says : "I find it good to plow and 
sow in hope. The time for gathering in will come. O my 
dear friend, did Ave but see the fulness of blessing laid up 
for us in Christ Jesus it would make us strong in faith, ear- 
nest in prayer, satisfy our objections and supply all our wants, 
while out of this fulness we received grace for grace. Yet a 
little while and Jesus will take us home. May we get fully 
ready. Heaven will more than compensate for all the little 
difficulties and trials we have suffered in this world." It is 
easy to discern in these words — which reveal what spirit he 
was of — what was Boardman's view of Christianity, and of 
Christ its centre and substance. He preached him in the 
fulness of his redemptive character and office, as the Saviour 
to the uttermost of them that believe. 

In another autograph letter written to Captain Parker, 
Boardman says : " No peace, no comfort, no security out of 
God. O to give Him all our hearts is indeed the one thing 
needful. God is indeed a jealous God and won't be robbed 
of his glory. Christ is worthy of our supreme love and ser- 
vice and praise. If we forsake him but in affection he will 
visit us with stripes. How many ? How long will it last ? 
This who can tell ? How much has our gracious Redeemer 
to bear and suffer with us ? He is God. He is Love, infi- 
nite in compassion. Let us therefore give him our love, our 
service, our hearts. Much prayer I am sure will do us much 
good, and will not be labor lost. We have an Advocate. 
Him the Father heareth always." 

Pilmoor and Boardman obviously were fully grounded and 



166 THE WESLEYAE- MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

settled in the evangelical truths which have been firmly main- 
tained and boldly proclaimed by the Wesleyans from the 
beginning. On Trinity Sunday, 1770, the former preached 
in New York, " on the grace and goodness of the divine 
Elohim, as engaged for our salvation," and to his reference 
to the occasion he adds : 

"The Deity triune, one Being we name 
Three persons divine forever the same 
One absolute nature in all we maintain 
One gracious preserver of angels and men." 

They stood upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles. 

The day following the Sunday when Pilmoor elucidated 
Methodism in St. George's was notable. In the evening he 
preached on "that glorious passage in the eighth of Romans: 
' As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons 
of God,'" and says: "I afterward admitted a very hopeful 
young man into the society and concluded the day in praise 
to God for the great and effectual door he has opened in 
this city for the preaching of his precious gospel. The sa- 
cred fire is spreading wider and wider, and the prospect con- 
tinually grows brighter and brighter." 

Pilmoor held a meeting on Friday, December 8, 1769, 
which he called " our first Intercession." It was a special 
service of the early Methodists, and he says that he regularly 
held it in both Philadelphia and New York. It is probable 
that Boardman did the same, as the last meeting he ever at- 
tended was the Intercession, in Cork, Ireland, on the last day 
of his life. Crook informs us that the Intercession was " a 
special prayer-meeting held on Friday, at noon, in Cork, at 
that time with reference to the revival and progress of relig- 
ion and the labors of the coming Sabbath." This meeting 
was held at noon on Friday by Pilmoor in this country. He 
records his testimony to its usefulness. Of the first Interces- 
sion he held in Philadelphia he says : "It was indeed a time 
of love." Immediately he adds : •" Since my arrival in this 
country my mind has been greatly drawn out in prayer, and 
God gives me an answer of peace." The weekly Intercession 



pilmoor's work for children 



167 



was no doubt one of the means by which the Wesleyans in 
America promoted the spirit and exercise of prayer and ob- 
tained strength for their conflicts and conquests. 

Wherever the teachings of Jesus prevail, childhood re- 
ceives tender nurture. At the period of his advent great cruel- 
ty was practised toward children in the Roman Empire. Even 
Cicero said, when a child " dies in the cradle no concern is 
felt about it." Children were often abandoned or destroyed 
by their parents, especially the female children. The Chris- 
tian fathers refer to this Roman brutality. " Man is more 
cruel to his offspring than animals," says Clement. Felix 
speaks of the exposure of children to wild beasts. Christianity 
antagonized this as well as the other moral enormities of the 
classic civilization. 

Christ showed a pathetic interest in children, and charged 
an apostle : " Feed my lambs." The care of childhood is a 
chief work of the Church. The Christian teacher who neg- 
lects the religious culture of the young fails to fulfil his mis- 
sion fully. The ranks of the religionists that care for chil- 
dren will be reinforced by adults. Wordsworth truthfully 
says " the child is father of the man." The shaping which 
the mind and heart receive in the first decade of life will 
commonly remain through all the following years of youth 
and manhood. The prophet Elisha cast salt into the waters 
of Jericho, so that they were healed ; and the Church through 
its ministry and its lay agencies ought to sweeten and purify 
the springs of the future race by instilling into childhood 
the holy principles of the gospel. Of this important work 
Joseph Pilmoor was not unmindful nor neglectful amid all his 
cares and labors in St. George's. With his engrossment of 
mind and time in procuring and fitting for use " a shell " of 
a large church, and the frequent public services, and private 
conversations incident to the enlarged and revived condition of 
the cause, he yet found opportunity to care for the children. 
On Saturday, December 9, 1769, at three o'clock, he held a 
children's service in Philadelphia. Of this occasion he says : 
" I met the children for the first time and found it much 
more difficult to speak to them than to preach to the most in- 



168 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



telligent hearers." The next Saturday, December 16, he was 
again occupied with the children, and was cheered by signs of 
success in this hopeful department of his charge. Of this 
meeting he says : "I met with some encouragement. Several 
of the dear little creatures wept when I spoke with them of 
the things of God. Perhaps some of these may be followers 
of Jesus when my head is laid in the dust." 

Wesley enjoined attention to this Juvenile work. At his 
conference in 1768 at which the American call for preachers 
was first presented, it was asked " What can be done for the 
rising generation ? Unless we can take care of these the 
present revival of religion will be res warns JEtatis. It will 
last only the age of a man. Who will labor here ? Let him 
that is zealous for God and the souls of men begin now. 1. 
Spend an hour a week with the children in every large town, 
whether you like it or not. 2. Talk with them every time 
you see any at home. 3. Pray earnestly for them." * 

We have seen that an important place was filled by 
Thomas Webb in the initiatory stage of the movement in 
America. He served it by his counsels, travels, preaching, 
and pecuniary contributions. We have also seen that he was 
its founder in Philadelphia, and during the first period of 
Pilmoor's labors in that city Webb was much with him. He 
was there when the congregations were overflowing their 
humble place of worship in the first weeks of Pilmoor's 
American ministry. He was also with them and preached 
on the first Sunday that they assembled in the new church. 
No doubt he encouraged and assisted them in effecting their 
removal to it. Four Sundays of the five from November 5 
to December 3, 1769, inclusive, he was present and preached 
in Philadelphia, and he evidently was an important agent in 
promoting the revival then in progress. Being about to leave 
the city for his home on Long Island he preached a farewell 
sermon on the evening of the ninth of December. Pilmoor, 
in speaking of this occasion, thus describes the famous mili- 
tary evangelist : " His preaching, though incorrect and irreg- 

* Minutes of the Wesleyan Conferences from the First held in London. By the 
late Rev. John Wesley, vol. L, pp. 81, 82. 



THE QUAKERS IN PHILADELPHIA 



169 



ular, is attended with wonderful power, and many are greatly 
blessed under his ministry. He has the great seal of God's 
approbation to his commission, and that is far more than all 
the human authority under heaven." 

The third sabbath in the new church — December 10, 
1769 — was a good day for the advancing cause. The meet- 
ing in the morning was profitable. In the afternoon Pilmoor 
attended worship in one of the Presbyterian churches of the 
city, and reported that the sermon was most excellent, and 
that the blessing of God descended. In the evening he re- 
marks : " Our church was well crowded while I preached on 
' Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the spirit 
of God is ? ' The general society afterward was attended 
with a great measure of the presence of God. The showers 
of his grace descended upon us ; my soul was filled with love 
and pity for poor sinners, and greatly drawn out with desires 
for their salvation." The next day (Monday) he writes " was 
truly a gospel day. Many attentive hearers were present 
while I expatiated on the words of good King Hezekiah to 
his princes and people when Jerusalem was besieged by 
Sennacherib, King of Assyria, 'Be strong and courageous,' 
etc. We have no need to fear," he exclaims, "for there are 
more with us than can possibly be against us. God Himself 
is on our side, and therefore we shall do valiantly and put to 
flight the armies of aliens. Tuesday was all taken up in 
speaking with those who came to inquire how they may flee 
from the wrath to come, and preaching to the prisoners 
where I had more liberty than ever before." 

Pilmoor in Philadelphia was surrounded by a serene and 
plain order of people, called Friends. Their habits of devout 
simplicity and serious quietness impressed the life of the 
city, and gave a tone to its social and religious atmosphere. 
Philadelphia was in a good degree at that time a Quaker 
city. The fervent Methodists and the tranquil Friends came 
into frequent contact. On the fourth Sunday of Pilmoor' s 
ministry in St. George's, December 17, 1769, he preached at 
seven in the morning, and then went to the Quaker meeting. 
He says : "Three public Friends delivered their testimony, 



170 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



but did not appear to have much of that spirit and life which 
so remarkably attended the primitive Quakers." "We shall 
see that subsequently he was able to give a more favorable re- 
port of what he saw of this peculiar people in Philadelphia. 

Diligently and ardently Pilmoor prosecuted his mission, 
and under his effective preaching the work advanced in 
Philadelphia. We have seen the revival fires extending, and 
as he approaches the Christmas-tide of 1769, he says : *' The 
work is still spreading ; souls are nocking to the standard of 
the gospel and patting on the armor of God." The crowd 
that gathered at five in the morning of Christmas was " vast," 
and they " heartily united in the high praises of the King of 
Zion. At ten I attended divine service," he says, " and re- 
ceived the Holy Sacrament at St. Paul's, and found much 
comfort to my soul. Our congregation in the evening was 
very large, and God gave me liberty of mind to preach Christ 
Jesus the Lord as the only Saviour of sinners. Nothing on 
earth affords me such satisfaction as striving to exalt my 
heavenly Master, and invite the people to come unto Him. 
Last Christmas I was in the Principality of Wales ; now my 
lot is cast near four thousand miles off in North America." 

Still the revival goes on. The day after Christmas Pil- 
moor had many persons speak with him about religion. 
" God is carrying on his work in a most wonderful manner," 
he declares. " He makes bare his arm in defence of his gos- 
pel, and makes it the savor of life unto life. Several persons 
who have been awakened of late desired admittance into the 
society. After examining them closely and finding them 
deeply serious I gave them leave to meet with us." The 
first day of the year 1770 he was greatly refreshed in speak- 
ing with many of the society after the service in the evening, 
and testified : " God is deepening his gracious work." 

On the second day of 1770 he began an exposition of the 
Lord's Prayer in Philadelphia, which he continued several 
evenings. He says : " Many people attended, and God gave 
me much freedom of mind to preach his word." As we shall 
see he subsequently preached a lengthened series of dis- 
courses in New York on the same fruitful theme. 



STRAWBRIDGE IN PHILADELPHIA 



171 



And now the famous Maryland evangelist appears in the 
midst of the Philadelphia awakening. Hitherto we have not 
met him on any defined date, but on Sunday, January 14, 
1770, we behold him in St. George's pulpit proclaiming the 
message which he had delivered with such historic results 
south of the Susquehanna. We are not informed when he 
came to Philadelphia, how long he stayed, nor how exten- 
sively he labored there, nor when or whither he went, but 
Pilmoor does say that on this Lord's day "Mr. Robert 
Strawbridge, a local preacher from Maryland, gave us a plain, 
useful sermon at seven in the morning." Thus far did this 
Wesleyan apostle wander from the sunny land of the 
Chesapeake in the depth of winter, and join Pilmoor in evan- 
gelistic labor. Those primitive Methodist preachers were not 
appalled by distance nor difficulty, but in going forth weep- 
ing they travelled afar "bearing precious seed." Though 
the field was vast, the work was one, and the few laborers 
who promoted it rejoiced to share each other's toil. Al- 
though we have no knowledge as to where Strawbridge then 
appeared except Philadelphia, we cannot doubt that so vali- 
ant a soldier of the cross drew the sword of the Spirit in holy 
conflict elsewhere in the region of the Delaware during this 
mid-winter campaign. We have thought it possible that he 
even went to New York at this time to see his countiyman, 
Embury, and rejoice with him on the field of his warfare and 
victory. This supposition is not unreasonable in view of the 
fact that Embury was then about to remove to Ashgrove. 

Mr. Pilmoor, in his search for souls, got eight miles away 
from Philadelphia on the sixteenth of January, 1770, several 
Philadelphians going with him through the snow in a sleigh. 
"We found a large congregation waiting," he says, "and I 
began immediately to publish free salvation to sinners 
through the blood of the Lamb. God is raising up witnesses 
of his saving grace even in this place." 

Pilmoor preached in the city in the morning of Sunday, 
January 21st, and then went with several of his friends to 
Kingcess, "where," he remarks, "the Swedes have lately 
built a handsome church. We had a fine congregation, and 



172 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



God enabled me to preach his word with power, and made 
it a time of love. Bigotry has but little place in Pennsyl- 
vania," he adds. "As there is no established church, the 
different societies of Christians are all on a level, and in gen- 
eral love one another." 

He was in St. George's pulpit in the evening of this, his 
ninth Sunday in that church. The congregation, he says, 
" was remarkably large and attentive. I preached on ' The 
great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to 
stand ? ' My bodily strength was greatly exhausted, but God 
renewed it again in meeting the society." 

The fame of his unctuous eloquence reached to a benefi- 
cent institution in Philadelphia, which was called the Better- 
ing House. He learned that the inmates wished to hear 
him. He was quite ready to gratify them, and accordingly 
on Tuesday, January 23, 1770, he " preached in one of their 
work rooms to a great number of them." Of this retreat he 
wrote : " There are about three hundred persons in it who 
are well taken care of by the public. Those who are able 
are employed in some kind of work, the sick have proper at- 
tendance, and the children are properly instructed. This is 
a House of Mercy, and is a credit to Philadelphia." 

The Pentecostal wind and flame still rushed on in the 
Quaker city. The beginning of February, 1770, was distin- 
guished by remarkable manifestations of the Holy Spirit. 
The first day of that month " we had a special blessing," says 
Pilmoor, " while I preached on the conquest of David over 
Goliath. God gave us a good hope through grace that we 
shall overcome the devil and all that oppose us. During the 
rest of this week our public and private meetings were much 
owned and blessed of the Lord. He carries on his work 
both among the old and the young, but chiefly among the 
young people who seem determined to run the appointed 
race and never rest till they obtain the celestial prize." 

Notwithstanding his engrossing labor in Philadelphia, he 
went abroad to sow the fruitful seed of the Wesleyan revival. 
The extent of his work outside of the city is indicated in his 
record for January, 1770. " In the course of this month," he 



pilmoor' s itineraries m the country 173 



writes, " I preached many times in the country as well as in 
the city, and found the Lord present with me in general. 
He enabled me to preach the word of his grace and made 
it effectual for the conversion and edification of immortal 
souls. There is a great and effectual door open for the gos- 
pel in America, and I trust neither earth nor hell will ever 
be able to shut it. If I were able to preach ten times a day 
here is work enough, and the people receive the word with 
thankfulness." As we shall see, it was charged two years 
later that Pilmoor and his colleague had remained in the 
cities too exclusively. It is evident, however, that Pilmoor 
at least was not remiss in labor at this time in either the 
city or country. 

He went to a place twenty miles from the city on March 
3, 1770, where he " found a fine congregation, and God gave 
his word success." It is almost certain that this place was 
Methacton. The following day, which was Sunday, he 
preached at White Marsh, and remarks : " It is an English 
Episcopal church, but there is no objection to my preach- 
ing in it as the principal members are my particular friends. 
As it had been published some time before, the people gath- 
ered from all quarters, so that the congregation was very 
large and my heart was quite at liberty while I showed the 
nature and properties of faith, and what that salvation is 
which is consequent on believing on the Son of God." 

The village of White Marsh is in Montgomery County, 
Pa., fourteen miles from Philadelphia. The Episcopal 
church in that place was built of stone in Gothic archi- 
tecture in 1710. Its spire rises 100 feet. " It was nearly 
one of the first Episcopal churches built in Pennsylvania."* 
After preaching there on this occasion Pilmoor returned to 
meet his city congregation. "In the afternoon the snow 
came down very plentifully," he says, " so that we had very 
disagreeable travelling ; however we got home in time for 
me to preach in the evening. The Lord seemed to be re- 
markably present while I explained the parable of the prod- 
igal son, and likewise at the society." 

* Buck's History of Montgomery County, Norristown, 1S59, pp. 06, 07. 



174 



THE "VVESLEYAISr MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



Like the Divine Master whom he served Pilmoor fed the 
hungry. Hearing that the prisoners in the jail ' ' were in the 
greatest distress for want of bread " he determined to relieve 
them. So in the evening of the fifteenth of March he preached 
" a charity sermon for them from the text, ' If thine enemy 
hunger feed him, if he thirst give him drink, etc.' The people 
were remarkably generous and contributed freely to their 
necessities. As charities are often misapplied, I resolved," 
he says, " to see to the laying out of the money myself and 
bought them bread, and went to the jail to deliver it among 
them that I might be sure they got it." 

The soldier evangelist was again in the city and at Pilmoor's 
side in the closing days of his first term on the Delaware. 
It was fortunate that Webb returned, for having taken cold 
Pilmoor was in his room sick, a result probably of his inces- 
sant labors. "I continued very ill on Saturday and Sunday," 
he writes, " but God had graciously provided by sending Cap- 
tain Webb who preached for me and his ministry was blessed 
to the souls of the people." This was on the seventeenth and 
eighteenth of March. On Monday the nineteenth he " was 
better but very weak." An inquirer called in great distress 
to ascertain if he were dead. " It seems," he says, " that a 
report had spread through the city that I was dead which 
greatly affected and distressed the people." 

The close of his work for a season in Philadelphia is at 
hand. A time of refreshing was enjoyed at the Intercession 
at noontide on Friday the twenty-third of March, 1770, and 
in the evening he held a service of especial interest and im- 
portance which in a moment he shall describe. 

The love feast is a significant feature of the Wesleyan 
economy. In it the members partake of bread and water to- 
gether in token of their brotherly love. The Methodists have 
esteemed it as one of their most joyful festivals. It gave to 
the old American quarterly meetings a peculiar and a pathetic 
charm. By personal recitals of Christian experience it evoked 
ejaculations and tears, mingled with songs and shoutings. It 
fostered and conserved that religious emotion which is so de- 
lightful to fervent disciples. In it blended the exultant voices 



THE FIRST LOVE-FEAST IN AMERICA 



175 



of veteran saints with the rapturous expressions of new con- 
verts. It rekindled failing ardor, stimulated faltering reso- 
lutions, and revivified declining graces. Its attraction has 
been felt by millions, and its effects have been made manifest 
by the intensified zeal and joy of Methodists all over Protes- 
tant Christendom. The first love-feast that was held in 
America, at least in Philadelphia, was a really historical 
event. Joseph Pilmoor introduced this beautiful festival in 
the city of Brotherly Love amidst the vivid experiences of 
new Christians and the glowing spirituality of the society fol- 
lowing upon a revival. On the above noted evening, March 
23, 1770, " we had," he says, " our first American love-feast 
in Philadelphia and it was indeed a time of love. The peo- 
ple behaved with as much propriety and decorum as if they 
had been for many years acquainted with the economy of the 
Methodists." 

It may be thought that as the Wesleyan movement was 
progressing in New York prior to its origin in Philadelphia 
that a love-feast had been held in the former city before the 
above date, but Pilmoor informs us that this was not the case. 
Wakeley in his " Lost Chapters " printed a ticket of member- 
ship issued to Hannah Dean, afterward the wife of Paul Hick, 
in New York, dated October 1, 1769, and signed by Robert 
Williams. This Wakeley calls a "love -feast ticket." Pil- 
moor, however, after going there from Philadelphia held 
a love-feast of which he said : "It is the first that has been 
kept by the Methodists of New York." This was nearly two 
months later than the first love-feast in Philadelphia. There- 
fore there is reason to believe that the latter was the first in 
America. Whether Strawbridge prior to this time had held a 
love-feast in Maryland it would now be vain to inquire, but it 
may safely be said that no evidence exists of such an event. 

Captain Webb preached in Philadelphia on Saturday 
night, March 24, 1770, and also on the Sunday morning fol- 
lowing. In the evening Pilmoor preached his " farewell ser- 
mon." The congregation was very large — " about two thou- 
sand attentive hearers," he asserts. After the sermon he met 
the society. " This," he says, " has been a good day. The 



176 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

word of the Lord was quick and powerful and the people 
were greatly affected." 

In closing his first term of ministerial labor in America 
he very naturally cast over it a retrospective eye and with 
deep interest studied the results. He saw much cause for 
joyful gratitude. He gives this resume of his labors and of 
the fruit thereof : "I have now been five months in this city 
and the Lord has wonderfully condescended to work by me. 
I have preached in many places adjacent and the sacred fire 
is kindled. Many persons are deeply concerned for their 
salvation and gladly receive the gospel. If we had but more 
preachers — men of faith and prayer, who would preach Christ 
Jesus the Lord 'tis probable the American Methodists would 
soon equal if not exceed the Europeans. 

" There are now one hundred and eighty-two in society 
to whom I have given tickets, and they meet in class and at- 
tend to all the discipline of the Methodists as well as the 
people in London or Bristol." 

The happy results of his first period of toil in Philadel- 
phia moved Pilmoor to exclaim, " This is God's own work. He 
has wonderfully made bare his arm in the sight of his people, 
and his right hand has gotten himself the victory. A seed is 
raised up to serve Him, and they shall be numbered to the 
Lord for a generation, and I hope many of them will be to me 
a crown of rejoicing in the day of His appearing." 

When he opened his ministry in Philadelphia in the clos- 
ing days of October, 1769, the society comprised about one 
hundred members and were without a church or any other 
adequate place of worship. They also were without means 
to buy or build one. Scarcely more than a month elapsed 
after his arrival before the large edifice which yet stands on 
Fourth Street was obtained, and occupied by the congre- 
gation which so soon overflowed the former room, which it 
is presumed was the " pot house " in Loxley's Court. The 
church so quickly acquired at once became the scene of great 
assemblies and of powerful occasions of preaching, prayer, 
and revival. It was not finished and its auditorium was by 
no means elegant. At a later period it was described by an 



SUMMARY OF WORK ACHIEVED IN PHILADELPHIA 177 

eye-witness as "without galleries within or railing without — 
a dreary cold-looking place in winter time when from the 
leaky stove-pipe mended with clay the smoke would fre- 
quently issue and fill the house. The front door was in the 
centre. About twenty feet from the east end inside stood a 
square thing not unlike a watch-box with the top sawed off 
which served as the pulpit." * 

The addition of this solid and spacious structure to the 
material equipment of Methodism in this country was a large 
achievement. It established the embryonic church on a firm 
and permanent basis in the foremost city of the continent and 
gave it prestige in the land. Altogether Pilmoor's first period 
of ministry in Philadelphia was distinguished by signal and 
enduring success. In the brief period of five months he saw 
the membership of the society nearly doubled and the pub- 
lic ear opened to hear the word. In those months Method- 
ism in Philadelphia attained to a vantage ground which it 
never relinquished nor lost, and which gave impetus to all 
the subsequent advances of the Methodists in the land. 
In accomplishing these remarkable achievements Pilmoor 
indeed received important assistance. Every Methodist 
preacher then in the country except Embury joined him in his 
responsible and laborious field. Captain Webb was fre- 
quently with him, and his service no doubt was important 
in procuring the Church building as well as in the enlarge- 
ment of the spiritual temple. Boardman preached at the 
beginning, and a little later Williams delivered several of his 
arousing sermons. Kobert Strawbridge also surveyed the 
new and strategic ground and proclaimed the glad tidings 
there. Yet these, Webb excepted, were but brief visitors. 
Pilmoor steadily stood at his post, guided the movement, was 
" instant in season out of season," planned, preached, prayed, 
and prevailed. He led his brave battalion to strenuous war- 
fare and to splendid victory. 

* Watson's Annals of Philadelphia, vol. i., p. 456. The "watch-box" was the 
shelter of the city watchman. 



CHAPTEE V. 



BOARDMAN AND PILMOOE TOGETHER IN NEW YORK. 

Throughout Pilmoor's first term in Philadelphia, Board- 
man was preaching in New York. On the twenty-sixth of 
March, 1770, Pilmoor left Philadelphia in a " chaise " with 
Francis Harris of that city, to exchange with Boardman. It 
was arranged that he should preach at Pennypaek, and he 
was accompanied thither by many of his friends. There he 
preached to a large audience, and says : " The God of all 
grace was remarkably present and gave us a parting bless- 
ing. After preaching I formed a little society. At present 
there is a fair prospect here. If the preaching is kept up, it 
is likely that much good will be done." 

He " set off early the next morning," and arrived in 
New York about eight o'clock on Wednesday evening, 
March 28, 1770. " Knowing it was preaching night, we 
hastened to the chapel," he says, " and found Mr. Boardman 
preaching the word of God with life and power. My heart 
greatly rejoiced at the sight of him, and my spirit was united 
in close fellowship with him. God has made us like David 
and Jonathan. Our souls are bound together in love." 

Boardman and Pilmoor now performed an important and 
especial task for the society in John Street. Ground was 
purchased for a Methodist chapel two years before Pilmoor's 
arrival in New York. The structure was erected and opened 
for worship one year before Boardman saw it. The prop- 
erty, however, had not been legally secured to the society. 
The lots were bought by and conveyed to eight gentlemen. 
Pilmoor says there had " been great uneasiness among the 
people of this city about the settlement of the chapel that 
was built for the Methodists." Steps were now taken to re- 



THE JOHN STREET DEED WRONG 



179 



move this distrust and to establish the work upon a firm 
material foundation. Both of the missionaries being in New 
York, the trustees were called together by them and the 
writings examined. " By comparison with the plan on 
which the chapels in Europe are settled," says Pilmoor, "we 
found them to be essentially wrong. The trustees were in- 
vested with absolute power over both preachers and people, 
and could do just as they wanted without being accountable 
to anyone. This we judged to be not only contrary to the 
whole economy of the Methodists, but likely to prove hurtful 
to the work of God. Therefore we endeavored to persuade 
them to have it altered. The reasons we gave had such 
weight that the trustees freely resigned their trust, and 
agreed to destroy the writings, which was immediately done 
by the consent of the whole." As Philip Embury was one 
of the eight men to whom the property was conveyed, it 
would seem that at this time he had not removed from the 
city. " Afterward," writes Pilmoor, " a proper settlement was 
made according to the general plan, and the chapel was regu- 
larly settled." 

The original deed of the John Street site, which was ex- 
ecuted March 30, 1768, is yet preserved, and is in the pos- 
session of the trustees of the Eighteenth 'Street Methodist 
Episcopal Church of New York. Seaman printed it in an 
appendix to his " Annals of Methodism in New York City." 
The deed was made to Philip Embury, William Lupton, 
Charles White, Richard Sause, Henry Newton, Paul Heck, 
Thomas Taylor, all of New York City, and Thomas Webb, of 
Queens County. According to the terms of the instrument 
the property belonged to these gentlemen in fee simple. It 
appears that a lease of the same premises was given to the 
same persons the day preceding the date of the deed, that is 
to say, March 29, 1768. 

Dr. Wakeley, in " Lost Chapters," says that the property 

was first leased to these persons, and that there was a 

space of " two years and seven months " between the date of 

the lease and the date of the deed. There was, it is true, such 

an interval between the date of the lease of which Wakeley 
13 



180 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEKICA 



speaks, and the reconveyance of the property to which Pil- 
moor refers, when he says that afterward " the chapel was 
regularly settled." But there was an earlier deed unknown 
to Wakeley, which bore the date of the day following that 
on which the lease was given. It was this primitive deed to 
which Pilmoor refers when he says, " we examined the writ- 
ings" and "found them to be essentially wrong." The writ- 
ings were wrong because thereby the trustees were made pos- 
sessors of the property and " could do just as they wanted, 
without being accountable to anyone." That Wakeley knew 
nothing of this deed is apparent from his statement that he 
discovered " on the old book that the price they ultimately 
paid for ' the John Street premises ' was £600." * Had he 
seen the deed of March 30, 1768, he would have learned 
from it, as well as from the " Old Book," that the sum he 
mentions was the consideration of the purchase. That 
Wakeley was ignorant of the existence of this deed is also 
clear from a notable error which he recorded thus : " Our 
Methodist fathers were prudent men. They acted very cau- 
tiously. Not feeling able to purchase the site, they con- 
cluded that it was better to lease and pay the ground rent. 
This they did for nearly three years, and it was upon this 
leased property they built the renowned Wesley Chapel. I 
know this account differs from all we have read on the sub- 
ject by writers on early Methodism in New York, but here 
are the documents that are on record ; here are the well-au- 
thenticated facts." t There was one document, however, 
which disproved his alleged "facts." Stevens, in the first 
volume (page 63) of his " History of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church," advanced the same error in saying : " They leased 
the site on John Street in 1768 and purchased it in 1770." 
They purchased it in 1768, and in 1770 a new conveyance 
was effected, which absolutely secured it to the Methodists. 

Why the purchasers of the John Street site took a lease 
thereof only one day before their deed was executed, prob- 
ably is not known. If Wakeley had discovered this deed,, 
he would not have said that " our early Methodist fathers," 

* Lost Chapters, p. 56. t Ibid., pp. 55, 56. 



NEW DEED OF JOHN STREET CHAPEL 



181 



being "prudent men," erected "upon this leased property" 
their chapel. The chapel was built by those " prudent 
men," not upon " leased " ground, but upon a site bought by 
and legally conveyed to the eight gentlemen whose names 
are above given. To secure the object of the purchase be- 
yond all contingencies, the settlement of the chapel was reg- 
ularly and legally made by a new deed, which was executed 
November second, 1770, and which conveyed the property in 
trust to : " Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor, minis- 
ters of the gospel ; William Lupton, merchant ; Thomas 
Webb, gentleman ; John Southwell, merchant ; Henry New- 
ton, shopkeeper ; James Jarvis, hatter ; all of the city of 
New York, trustees appointed for the uses and purposes 
hereinafter mentioned." Those purposes, as set forth in the 
deed, were, in brief, that John Wesley, late of Lincoln Col- 
lege, in the University of Oxford, and such other persons as 
he should "from time to time appoint," might "therein 
preach and expound God's Holy Word ; " and after his de- 
cease, " Charles Wesley, late of Christ's Church College, Ox- 
ford, and such person or persons as he " should " from time 
to time appoint, and at all times during his life, and no 
other, to have and enjoy the full use and benefit of the said 
meeting-house for the purposes aforesaid ; " and after his 
decease, " then upon further trust and confidence, the said 
Richard Boardman and the rest of the hereinbefore men- 
tioned trustees, or the major part of them, or the survivors of 
them, and the major part of the trustees for the time being, 
shall, and from time to time thereafter will, permit such per- 
son or persons as shall be appointed at the yearly confer- 
ence of the people called Methodists in London, Bristol, 
Leeds, and the city of New York ; and no others, to have 
and enjoy the said premises for the purposes aforesaid, pro- 
vided always that the said person or persons, so from time to 
time to be chosen as aforesaid, preach no other doctrine than 
is contained in the said John Wesley's 'Notes upon the 
New Testament,' and his four volumes of sermons." 

It appears that while the chapel was not built upon 
leased ground, as Wakeley asserts, it stood upon a site 



182 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



which, according to the terms of the deed, was owned by the 
eight persons who bought it. Therefore it was an important 
service which the two preachers rendered in effecting an ar- 
rangement which, on the second of November, 1770, per- 
fectly secured the premises by a new deed to the society. 

We now see what the first Methodist Church in New 
York cost. The original deed and the " Old Book " alike 
show that the price of the lots was six hundred pounds. 
Thomas Bell, who worked on the structure six days, in a 
letter dated May 13, 1769, says that the cost of the chapel 
was six hundred pounds." Thus it seems that the cost of 
the edifice was the same as the cost of the site, and the total 
expense of the enterprise was twelve hundred pounds. The 
price paid for St. George's by the Philadelphia society was 
only six hundred and fifty, though Pilmoor says it originally 
cost two thousand pounds. 

Boardman and Pilmoor remained together for some days 
in New York, "strengthening and encouraging each other to 
go forward in the good way and work of God." " We 
parted," says Pilmoor, " with a full determination to live or 
die for the Lord Jesus. Mr. Boardman set off with Mr. 
Harris in his chaise for Philadelphia, and I stayed in New 
York." Boardman's departure could not have been earlier 
than the tenth of April, 1770, as on that day, according to 
the " Old Book," he received from the John Street treasurer 
one poimd and four shillings, " to pay his expenses to Phila- 
delphia." Apparently St. George's was. without either of the 
regular preachers for over a fortnight. But there is reason 
to suppose that during this interval one of the " irregulars " 
was doing effective work in that field. Pilmoor, on the day 
preceding that in which he left Philadelphia, mentioned that 
Captain Webb preached there. It is probable that he re- 
mained and manned the post until Boardman arrived. 

New York, at the time of the coming of the Wesleyan 
missionaries, had not far from twenty thousand inhabitants. 
The growth of the city had been very slow. As early as 

* Letter of Thomas Bell in Arminian Magazine, London, 1 807, pp. 45, 46. I as- 
sume that Bell means that the building alone cost 600 pounds. 



NEW YORK CHUKCHES IX 1769 



183 



1613 the Dutch erected a few huts on Manhattan Island. 
When a century and more had passed, according to an old 
map, Frankfort Street, near the upper end of the City Hall 
Park, " was at about the northernmost limit of the loosely 
settled town, with farms and gardens and swamps beyond." 
At the opening of the revolution the city had less than 22,- 
000 population, and not until 1815 did it reach one hundred 
thousand. 

The condition of New York as to its ecclesiastical con- 
cerns is indicated by the catalogue of its churches, furnished 
by Thomas Bell. New York, in 1769, he asserts, had " three 
places of worship of the Church of England ; two of the 
Church of Scotland ; three of the Dutch Church ; one Bap- 
tist meeting ; one Moravian chapel ; one Quakers' meeting ; 
one Jews' synagogue, and one French Beformed Chapel." 
He adds : " Among all these there are very few that like the 
Methodists. The Dutch Calvinists have preached against 
them." The letter containing these statements was written 
nearly three months before Boardman and Pilmoor were ap- 
pointed to America. In addition to the above places of re- 
ligious convocation was the humble chapel on Golden Hill — 
John Street. There must also have been a Lutheran church 
or congregation in the city, as in an advertisement which 
Philip Embury inserted in a New York newspaper, in March, 
1761, concerning a school he proposed to establish, he said 
the school house was " in Little Queen Street, next door to 
the Lutheran Minister's." Little Queen was what is now 
Cedar Street. 

Bell does not mention any church of the Presbyterian 
name. That denomination, however, was in New York, and 
possibly Bell included the churches of that order under the 
appellation of the " Church of Scotland," of which he says 
there were two. The " Brick " Presbyterian Church, of 
which the eminent Gardiner Spring became pastor in 1810, 
was opened for worship the first of January, 1768. The first 
Baptist church in New York City began about 1745, " in oc- 
casional gatherings of Baptists for prayer and singing in 
private dwellings." It is interesting to note that these Bap- 



184 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



tists hired " a rigging loft in Cart and Horse lane, a thor- 
oughfare known to this generation as William Street," where 
they assembled. Whether it was the rigging loft in which 
the Methodists afterward worshipped in the same street is 
not determined. " A site for a church building was selected 
in 1759, on Golden Hill, near Fair Street. On the present 
maps this would be in Gold Street, near Fulton. The first 
Baptist meeting-house was built and opened for public wor- 
ship, March 14, 1760." In the Eevolution the British occu- 
pied this sanctuary as a stable for "the horses of their 
troopers." * 

Ai that time New York was a slave city. Not only was 
there the domestic traffic in negroes, but the city was also a 
mart of the slave trade. This is shown by the following ad- 
vertisement which appeared in Weyman's Neiv York Gazette, 
of September 21, 1761. 

A PARCEL OF CHOICE SLAVES 
Just imported, to be sold on board a sloop at Cruger's Wharf. 

The New York newspapers of the period illustrate the do- 
mestic traffic in slaves. The advertisement which follows was 
printed in The Neiv York Journal or General Advertiser in 
January, 1770. 

To be Sold for no Fault but Want of Cash. 

A likely negro man and a wench fit for a farmer or any private fam- 
ily. Have both had small-pox and measles. 

In the same newspaper, July 12, 1770, was this : 

To be Sold foe no Fault. 

A likely negro wench about eighteen years of age. Can be well 
recommended. Enquire of the printer. 

Slaves were then sold in New York just as horses were 
sold, as is shown by the last advertisement illustrative of this 
business which I shall insert. It appeared in the same jour- 
nal, March 29, 1770, the day after Pilmoor's first arrival in 
New York. 

* Historic Churches, in the New York Mail and Express, May 6, 1893. 



PILMOOR VISITS CAPTAIN WEBB 



185 



A Negro Man to be Sold. 

Has been used to both town and country. He is a likely, sober fellow, 
and to be sold for no fault but want of employment. A stout, brown 
horse to be sold at same place. Inquire of the printer. 

Methodism in America rose amid slavery. Boardman and 
Pilmoor encountered the institution, and preached to slaves. 
Not until many years afterward did the North adopt emanci- 
pation. Methodism met slavery in New York and in Phila- 
delphia before any Wesleyan societies were formed south of 
the Potomac. 

We are now to see Pilmoor laboring with zeal and suc- 
cess in his first pastoral term in the city which has become 
the vast capital of the western continent. 

When, by the departure of Mr. Boardman for Philadel- 
phia, the two preachers were again separated, Pilmoor 
wrote : "It would be a special favor if we could always live 
together in the same city, but the time is not yet. When a 
few years are past we shall meet in the New Jerusalem, and 
then we shall live to part no more forever." 

In a strange town and among strangers, no doubt Pil- 
moor felt a degree of loneliness. It was but natural that he 
should long for the sight and the fellowship of his friend, 
Captain Webb, whose home was not far away. Not many 
days passed before Pilmoor arranged for a visit to the vet- 
eran soldier. " Having settled all my affairs in the city," he 
writes, " and being a little at liberty, on Thursday, the nine- 
teenth of April, I crossed over to Long Island and rode with 
a friend to Jamaica to visit Captain Webb. Our souls were 
comforted together, and God made our meeting a time of re- 
freshing from his Heavenly Presence. In the afternoon I 
preached, but was greatly straitened in mind. God with- 
drew the comfortable assistance I usually enjoy, and my 
mind was so embarrassed that I found it very hard work to 
preach. It is with me an easy matter to talk, but to preach 
is beyond my power unless assisted from above. In the 
evening I returned to the city, and was somewhat comforted 
in meeting the society. Friday and Saturday I had several 



186 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



opportunities of speaking for God, and was greatly refreshed 
in my soul." 

On Sunday the twenty-second of April, 1770, Pilmoor en- 
joyed good seasons with the New York Methodists. "In the 
evening," he says, " our congregation was very large and 
the Chief Shepherd was graciously pleased to give us his 
blessing of peace." 

He spent some time the next day in reading the Old Tes- 
tament in the original. This scholar of Wesley's Kingswood 
school had not forgotten his Hebrew. When he had been in 
America less than four weeks he wrote : " After expounding 
at five I began to resume the study of the holy language. 
My reason was a desire to be more extensively useful in the 
world, and to more effectually promote the glory of God. 
With a view to this I made a covenant with my God and 
promised to devote my all to his service. I desire to have 
wisdom for .my portion and to dwell with the God of the 
Hebrews forever and ever." Now in New York on April 23, 
1770, he again shows his devotion to Hebrew thus : " Spent 
the morning in reading my Hebrew Bible, and was glad to 
drink in the truth from the pure fountain of the patriarchs 
and prophets, without the least danger of human interven- 
tion." The same day in addition to this he studied Fox's 
" Acts and Monuments." 

The first itinerants sent by Wesley to America were not 
illiterate men. Pilmoor especially was scholarly. Less than 
two months before he returned to England he wrote : " I was 
greatly comforted in reading my Hebrew Bible which I de- 
light in more than all other books in the world." On the last 
day of the year 1771 in Philadelphia, he said : " I resumed 
my study of Greek, which I had been obliged to drop for 
some time on account of various business." On a yet earlier 
occasion in the same city he records that after reading a 
chapter in the Hebrew Bible he was "much comforted in 
looking over the lives of Archbishop Usher, Bishop Bedell 
and Mr. George Herbert." During his first term in New York 
he wrote : " I am enabled to consult the Hebrew oracles with- 
out depending altogether upon the judgment of translators." 



pilmoor's eloquence and success 



187 



Pilmoor's manuscript journal is almost wholly confined to 
his work as a Methodist preacher in America. It contains 
matter sufficient to fill several hundred printed duodecimo 
pages, and the writer's culture is apparent on every page. It 
is one of the best written works of the kind which Methodism 
has produced in this country, and it would not seriously suf- 
fer from a comparison with the best diary literature in the 
English language. Its chief defect is that of most of the 
early Methodist diaries, naniely, that it is not sufficiently 
copious with respect to the personality, labors, and history of 
his associates in the work. 

In Joseph Pilmoor the infant Methodism of America had 
a preacher of whom it had no need to be ashamed. His na- 
tive gifts, spiritual qualifications, theological and literary at- 
tainments, and power of utterance, entitled him to take rank 
with the leading preachers of the country. He at once be- 
came a tower of strength to the Wesleyan cause in the chief 
centre of American life and activity in that day, namely — 
Philadelphia. In New York, also, as we shall see, he was 
a powerful evangelical leader. His physical as well as mental 
endowments were extraordinary. " He had a fine musical, 
deep-toned bass voice." His close friend Mr. Latimer, of 
Philadelphia, says that Pilmoor was " a choice young man, 
and a goodly. He was tall with well-knit frame and firm step. 
His dress at this period comprised a broad brimmed hat, 
shad-belly coat, breeches and knee buckles, white stockings 
and a profusion of long hair which hung in graceful locks. 
A voice whose volume and melody were perfectly marvelous 
enabled him to address vast multitudes with ease." 

No description of Pilmoor's preaching at this time in this 
country seems to exist. Some time after his return in 1774 
to England he was stationed in Norwich Circuit. The Wes- 
leyan Congregation in the city of Norwich had been so much 
depleted both numerically and financially by the Antinomian 
defection, that " it was feared the chapel would have to be 
closed." The Wesleyan historian of that city shows the 
power and success amidst such obstacles, of the man whose 
laborious and eloquent ministry did so much for Methodism 



188 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



in this land. " At the Conference of 1777," says this author- 
ity, " Mr. Joseph Pilmoor, at his own particular desire though 
an entire stranger to us, and though he had the offer of the 
first circuits in the connexion was appointed for the Norwich 
Circuit. He was a man of ardent zeal, of a vast grasp of in- 
tellect, and of uncommon eloquence. The chapel was soon 
rilled again, great numbers of respectable people took pews, 
and many have since told me that they date their spiritual 
life from that memorable period. Many were then savingly 
converted to God and joined the society. Mr. Pilmoor con- 
tinued with us two years. He was the instrument in the 
hands of the Lord in raising the society to such circum- 
stances that when he left us we we were able to bear our own 
expenses."* 

The Rev. Walter Griffith was an eminent Wesleyan 
preacher. He was stationed repeatedly in London, and also 
served other chief circuits such as Bristol, Hull, Manchester, 
Leeds, etc. In 1813 he was president of the British Confer- 
ence. At the Conference in 1780 Mr. Pilmoor was appointed 
to Dublin. The first time he preached in that city young 
Griffith heard him, and he " was charmed and delighted with 
the minister and determined to join the society. Shortly 
after this he began to meet in class, and was received on trial 
by Mr. Pilmoor, September 4, 1780. Toward the close of 
Mr. Pilmoor's second year in Dublin, Mr. Griffith and a few 
of the most serious young men in the society agreed to meet 
to spend an hour in prayer every Sabbath morning at five 
o'clock, and at eight o'clock three nights in every week. 
These were the beginnings of those prayer meetings in Dub- 
lin which have since been made of God instrumental of eternal 
good to thousands."t We shall soon see how diligently and 
specially Pilmoor labored for young men in America. We 
here see the influence he exercised over young Griffith in 
Dublin. 

* A Concise History of Wesleyan Methodism in the City of Norwich in 1754 with 
its Progress from that Period to its Present State. By W. Lorkin. Norwich : 1825, 
pp. 22, 23. 

t Memoir of Griffith, by the Rev. Edmond Grindrod. Wesleyan Methodist 
Magazine : February and March, 1827. 



boardman's culture and power 189 

Our knowledge of Boardman is meagre, but no doubt lie 
had literary as well as spiritual qualifications for his work. 
Whether he knew Hebrew and Greek like his associate we 
are not informed, but Pilmoor's references to him and his 
preaching show that he was a capable and even powerful 
preacher. Besides, his autograph letters reveal his mental 
ability and rhetorical skill. I have read a few of those some- 
what faded documents, traced by the hand of the devoted 
preacher, and have therein seen the evidence of his literary 
training. An illiterate man could not have written Board- 
man's epistles. 

Boardman was an effective preacher in the true sense. His 
sermons brought souls to God. We have seen this fact illus- 
trated in the notable example of the mother of the eminent 
Dr. Bunting in England. John Mann was converted under 
Boardman's ministry in Ne w York, and became a conspicuous 
preacher. He went to Nova Scotia as a Wesleyan mission- 
ary, and in the dark days of the Revolution, when New York 
was without a Methodist preacher Mann gave important min- 
isterial service in that city. As the first missionaries of Wes- 
ley's appointment Boardman and Pilmoor did a work and 
achieved a renown in this land, as imperishable as Methodism 
itself. The first time their names appeared in connection 
with America in the English Minutes was in 1770, when Pil- 
moor's name stood first, thus : America : Joseph Pilmoor, 
Richard Boardman, Robert Williams, John King. In the 
Minutes of 1771 and 1772 Boardman's name was first. It 
has been understood by our historical writers that Boardman 
was chief from the beginning, but the order of their names 
in the British Minutes of 1770 would indicate that Pilmoor 
was then chief. The fact that the matters pertaining to the 
New York Chapel deed were formally inquired into and ad- 
justed directly after Pilmoor reached that city in March, 
1770, corroborates this view. One fact would indicate that 
Boardman was in control, namely, that in the compact for 
service he made with the Wesleyans of New York he is called 
the Assistant of Mr. Wesley. 

That two preachers of such zeal, diligence, and devotion ; 



190 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



of such intellectual force and equipment ; of such pulpit elo- 
quence and power ; of such promptness, energy, and skill in 
action and administration should have appeared so oppor- 
tunely on the new field of Methodism in America was visibly 
providential. They cleared a path for its march to its vast 
continental conquests before the military tempest burst upon 
the colonies. The training and propulsion which they gave 
to it prepared it in a degree under God to abide and to sur- 
mount the long and severe revolutionary ordeal. By their 
luminous and unctuous gospel preaching, and their faithful 
and wise pastoral supervision the embryonic Methodist 
Church in America was much invigorated and fortified. It 
was, as we shall soon see, founded in new and important cen- 
tres in the land, as Boston, Baltimore, and Norfolk, by their 
labors. The fair Wesleyan tree, whose early growth they 
fostered and guided and which has attained to proportions so 
vast and is so prolific of fruit, became well rooted in America 
before Asbury, Eankin, and the others came to share their 
toils. 



CHAPTEE VL 



PILMOOR, WILLIAMS, AND WHLTEFIELD LN NEW YORK. 

The labors of Joseph Pilmoor in the spring and early sum- 
mer of 1770 were not exclusively bestowed upon the congre- 
gations that gathered in John Street. He was a true mis- 
sionary, and as such sought to save men wherever he could. 
He ministered to condemned felons in the jail and to the 
children of adversity in the poor-house. He went into the 
adjacent country and upheld the cross to the view of the rus- 
tic population. He preached in the fields and in domiciles, 
as well as in the church. 

He was intelligently interested in educational and ecclesi- 
astical affairs, and one day we see him at a college com- 
mencement and on another at a convocation of the church 
clergy. We shall see him and Robert Williams again side by 
side in New York, exulting in tha spread and success of their 
cause in the country regions. We shall also see him at the 
side of that wonderful evangelist, George Whitefield. Pil- 
moor saw that the important strategic centres of New York 
and Philadelphia must not be neglected, and therefore as the 
laborers were so few he deemed that he and Boardnian were 
bound by the exigencies of the work to give the greater part 
of their time to those urban fields, until ministerial reinforce- 
ments should arrive from England. 

We see Mr. Pilmoor initiating a rural movement, May 3, 
1770. On that day he says : " Mr. Furbush, a particular 
friend, took me in his chaise to Harlem, a place about eight 
miles from New York where I preached to a small congrega- 
tion with great freedom of soul and the power of God ap- 
peared to be very present among the people." The same 
evening he met the society in the city. 



192 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT 1 1ST AMERICA 



Two days thereafter he wrote a letter to the Rev. John 
Wesley " arid all the brethren in Conference." That epistle 
shows the state of the work at that time in New York. It also 
exhibits Pilmoor's views of the needs of the country districts, 
and his belief that it was impossible for himself and his asso- 
ciate to meet the requirements of the cities, and at the same 
time render the needful service to the rural places. In this 
letter he gives a graphic picture of the condition of the field 
in those primitive days, which is of real historic interest. 
Addressing his " dear, beloved brethren " Pilmoor, under the 
date of May 5, 1770, says: "As it hath pleased God to 
send us, his poor unworthy creatures, into this remote cor- 
ner of the world to preach his everlasting gospel, I trust you 
will bear us on your minds and help us by your prayers to 
fulfil the ministry which we have received of the Lord. We 
are at present far from you, and whether we shall ever be 
permitted to see you again in the body God only knows. 
However, though we are absent from you, yet we are present 
with you and I hope we shall continue so united that : 

" 'Neither joy nor grief, nor time nor place 
Nor life nor death can part.' 

" It was a great trial to us to leave our native land ; more 
especially to leave our fellow laborers in the gospel who were 
more dear to us than all the beauties of the British isle. 
Dear brethren, I feel, I feel you present while I write, but O 
the Atlantic is between. O this state of trial, this state of 
mutability. But where am I wandering ? This is not our 
home. This is not our rest. After a little while we shall 
rest ' where angels gather immortality and momentary ages 
are no more.' 

" Our coming to America has not been in vain. The Lord 
has been pleased to bless our humble attempts to advance his 
kingdom in the world. Many have believed the report and 
to some the Arm of the Lord has been revealed, There be- 
gins to be a shaking among the dry bones ; and they come 
together that God may breathe upon them. Our congrega- 
tions are large and we have the pious of most congregations 



PILMOOR'S LETTER TO WESLEY 



193 



to hear us, which makes the Presbyterian bigots mad. But 
we are fully determined not to retaliate. They shall contend 
for that which God never revealed, and we will contend for 
the faith once delivered to the saints. The religion of Jesus 
is a favorite topic in New York. Many of the gay and po- 
lite speak much about grace and perseverance. But whether 
they would follow Christ ' in sheep skins and goat skins' is a 
question I cannot affirm. Nevertheless, there are some who 
are alive to God. Even some of the poor despised children 
of Ham are striving to wash their robes and make them white 
in the blood of the Lamb. We have a number of black 
women who meet together every week; many of whom are 
happy in the Love of God. This evinces the truth that ' God 
is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth 
God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him.' The 
society here consists of about a hundred members besides 
probationers ; and I trust it will soon increase much more 
abundantly. 

"Brother Boardman and I are chiefly confined to the 
cities and therefore cannot at present go much into the coun- 
try, as we have more work upon our hands than we are able 
to perform. There is work enough for two preachers in each 
place, and if two of our brethren would come over, I believe 
it would be attended with a great blessing, for then we could 
visit the places adjacent to the cities, which we cannot pretend 
to do till we can take care of them. They need not be afraid 
of wanting the comforts of life for the people are very hos- 
pitable and kind. When we came over we put ourselves and 
the brethren to great expense as being strangers to the coun- 
try and the people. But the case is different now as matters 
are settled, and everything is provided. If you can send them 
over we shall gladly provide for them. And I hope in a few 
years the brethren will be able to send them back to England 
according to the appointment of the Conference." * 

Though separated so widely from his European fellow- 
laborers Pilmoor kept in touch with them by means of episto- 
lary communication. The ties of the old brotherhood were 

* Arminian Magazine, London, 1784, pp. 222, 3, 4. 



194 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



still warm and stretched unbroken and unstrained across 
the sea. Seeing the urgent need of more laborers he called 
for two additional preachers to come over. He was destined 
in the course of one and a half years to receive and introduce 
to the society in Philadelphia two new missionaries from Eng- 
land. Until then he and Boardman were to pursue their 
work and provide as they could for its multiplying exigencies. 

Pilmoor " went with Mr. James Jarvis, on Wednesday 
the ninth of May, 1770, to visit two condemned prisoners in 
the jail, but he did not get much satisfaction " from the inter- 
view. "Though I spoke," he says, "with the utmost free- 
dom and plainness they seemed to be quite insensible to the 
things of God and religion. When I had done with them a 
poor old man desired to speak with me who was of a very 
different spirit. I prayed with him and left him full of good 
desires and resolutions.'' 

He visited the imprisoned malefactors again on the 12th 
of May, " and found them more concerned than before." The 
next day — Sunday — after preaching at seven in the morning, 
he attended worship at St. Paul's. The sermon was by a young 
man whose theme was General Redemption. Pilmoor thought 
the treatment of the subject defective and expressed the wish 
that some one would teach the youthful clergyman " the way 
of God more perfectly." That evening he " was much en- 
larged at the preaching but much more at our love-feast." 
He asserts that this love-feast "is the first that has been kept 
by the Methodists in New York and the Lord was remarkably 
present." 

W T e have already seen that the " first American love-feast 
in Philadelphia " was held on the twenty -third of the preced- 
ing March. Now seven weeks later, namely on the thirteenth 
of May, 1770, in the evening of the Sabbath, after public 
preaching, the first love-feast in New York was held by the 
same fervent preacher. Of the occasion he says : " We felt 
the softening power of the Holy Ghost and our souls were 
dissolved with love in the presence of the mighty God of 
Jacob." It thus appears that Joseph Pilmoor gave this unique 
and beautiful service to the Methodism of America. 



THE EPISCOPAL CLERGY 



195 



He attended the Commencement of Columbia College in 
Trinity Church on the fifteenth of May, and heard the ora- 
tions of the students " previous to taking their degrees." He 
was much pleased with one on Obedience to Magistrates and 
Governors. In the afternoon he was again in the jail among 
the criminals, and also in the poor-house, where he "heard a 
Baptist minister preach who seemed to be much in earnest for 
the salvation of his hearers." The next day was " the anni- 
versary meeting of the Episcopal clergy." He went with 
" great expectations " and found much disappointment. " The 
gentleman who preached " he says, " spent more than twenty 
minutes in ransacking the whole tribe of Levi to find out the 
power of the keys and the succession of apostolical bishops. 
Such labored nonsense may please the vulgar who have not 
an opportunity of better information, but can never satisfy 
men of understanding. Every man of reading may easily 
know that all the power in the Christian Church is derived 
from Christ and he had no connection with the Levitical 
Priesthood ; for it is evident our Lord sprang out of Judah 
and was a priest after the order of Melchisedec, which was 
long before the order of Aaron." 

Pilmoor persisted in his attention to the condemned men 
in prison and was with them again on the seventeenth of 
May when he was gratified to learn that they had been re- 
prieved. 

Vital godliness was enjoyed and preached by some Epis- 
copal clergymen in America at that period. One such Pil- 
moor met in New York on the 28th of May, 1770, when he 
dined in company with the Rev. Mr. Graves, of New Lon- 
don. "He is a choice man of God," says Pilmoor, "and a 
faithful witness for Jesus of the life and power of godliness. 
His conversation was truly edifying." As we have hereto- 
fore seen, Pilmoor did not confine his public ministry to in- 
door pulpits, but he also preached in the open air. On the 
thirtieth of May, 1770, which was Wednesday, he " had a 
good time at five in the morning," and " in the evening," he 
says, "I took my stand in a convenient place near the city, 

and published the truths of the Gospel to a vast multitude of 
14 



196 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

attentive hearers, and God gave me his blessing. Hallelujah 
to his glorious name!" On June first he writes: "I preached 
abroad again and endeavored to set forth the amiable perfec- 
tions and glorious offices of my Master Jesus, and had some 
hope my labor was not in vain." Pilmoor is described in " Wat- 
son's Annals of Philadelphia" as "a true field preacher." 

Williams, that active and unresting itinerant, whose com- 
ing to this country partly on business was so opportune and 
fortunate for the infant Methodism thereof, and who, respon- 
sive to the demands of the work, gave himself thereto with 
so much devotion and abandon, is again in the city. On Sun- 
day the third of June he preached in the John Street chapel. 
" Robert Williams who lately came up from Maryland gave 
us a useful sermon on the ascension of Christ," says Pilmoor. 
" In the evening I declared to a very large and attentive au- 
dience, ' He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with 
fire.' " He adds that " Monday and Tuesday [June 4th and 
5th, 1770] we were glad to avail ourselves of the opportunity 
of preaching morning and evening as on Sunday." 

Pilmoor had a poetic order of mind which he exemplified 
in his description of a laurel grove and of a morning drive 
thereto on June 7, 1770. He says : " Having often heard 
of the grove of laurels near Kingsbridge I had a desire to see 
it ; so Mr. Crook agreed to go with me. As the weather was 
remarkably hot we took the cool of the morning and rode 
gently forward viewing the beauties of nature. The sun rose 
with majestic splendor, and seemed joyful to run his ap- 
pointed race. The pearly dew drops like studs of silver hung 
upon the plants and flowers as if designed to beautify the 
face of nature, while the stately oaks were gently waving 
their lofty heads in honor of their Creator. We soon reached 
the delightful spot, which far exceeds all description. The 
beautiful laurels arrayed in garments of unchangeable verdure, 
and decorated with a rich profusion of the most delicate 
flowers, at once charmed us. Here delighted with the match- 
less beauties of the place, I was led to admire the infinite 
wisdom and power of God, and could scarcely forbear joining 
with the justly celebrated Milton in his Morning Hymn 



AMERICAN THUNDER STORMS 



197 



" ' These are thy glorious works Parent of good 

Almightv. Thine this Universal frame how wondrous fair 
Thyself, how wondrous then ? ' " 

In this pleasing excursion lie seems to have joined work 
with pleasure, for he adds : " In the afternoon I preached at 
Harlem to a very polite and serious congregation, and the 
Lord enabled me to preach the gospel with power." 

There was a gracious spiritual visitation in John Street 
on the eighth of June, and on the following day New York re- 
verberated with startling peals of thunder. Says Pilmoor, 
" We met at five in the morning and God graciously favored 
us with his presence and blessing. On Saturday we had the 
most tremendous crack of thunder that ever I heard. It 
burst just over the city and gave the astonished inhabitants 
an awful proof of the wonderful power of the infinite God." 

The electrical phenomena attending many of the summer 
showers in America seem to have impressed solemnly certain 
Englishmen who sojourned here in the last century. Pilmoor, 
not in the above instance only but several times, describes 
them in his narrative. Richard Parkinson, an English travel- 
ler in this country at the close of the eighteenth century, thus 
vividly depicts an American thunder-storm. " A small cloud 
appears, first, and very quickly gathers and blackens the sky. 
The winds begin to blow, with thunder and lightning so tre- 
mendous that a stranger might suppose that it would destroy 
everything upon the earth. The thunder-bolts will split the 
trees in the woods in such a manner as was very surprising to 
me when I first saw it ; and made me believe the country was 
ordained by the Almighty, a proper place for convicts, as it 
would make them repent of their former sins."* Mr. Wesley 
when he was in Georgia wrote in his Journal that "thunder 
and lightning are expected almost every day in May, June, 
July, and August. They are very terrible especially to a 
stranger." 

Williams must have spent some time in and around New 
York in the early part of 1770. We find in the " Old Book " 

* Edinburgh Review, vol. vu., p. 56. 



198 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



that he received from the treasurer of John Street Chapel, 
five pounds and eight shillings on the 20th of March of that 
year, which sum was paid him, probably, for ministerial service 
in the city and its vicinage. Twenty days previously £3 6s. 8d. 
was paid "for Mr. Williams' horse, while at Douglas's on 
Staten Island." Other items in relation to Williams occur in 
the book during the spring of the same year. It seems that 
he itinerated in the rural regions about New York. Pil- 
moor records, June 15, 1770, that "we were greatly comforted 
at the Intercession and likewise by the good news brother 
Williams brought us from the country. The work is spread- 
ing as far as New Rochelle among some French Protestants 
who fled to this distant country for the sake of religion." 

Williams, however, felt the attraction of the field beyond 
the Susquehanna, where the extending cause urgently re- 
quired laborers, and again he turned his face thither. Pil- 
moor says, Monday, June 20th, 1770, "Mr. Williams set 
off for Philadelphia on his way to Maryland, where the 
sacred fire is continually spreading wider and wider." There 
is reason to believe that, like Webb, Williams proclaimed the 
glad tidings according to the New Testament and Methodism 
in various sections adjacent to the Hudson, the Delaware, 
and the Potomac, in advance of any other Wesleyan preacher. 
He was the flying artilleryman of the cause in the days when 
there were only Boardman, Pilmoor, Embury, Strawbridge, 
Webb and himself to man the batteries of Methodism in 
America. There is reason to believe, from Pilmoor's state- 
ment above, that Williams was in Philadelphia for a short 
time assisting Boardman in the summer of 1770, and that 
he went thence to Maryland. 

Bobert Williams did not leave any documentary record of 
his labors, or if he did, it has disappeared from view. A 
tradition has been preserved in an authentic manuscript of 
one of his preaching adventures in a locality in Baltimore 
County, now embraced in Harford jCounty, Maryland, which 
is strikingly illustrative of his method of promoting the cause. 
The date is not given, but the event probably occurred in 
1770, as Williams went to Maryland in November, 1769, and 



WILLIAMS' PEEACHING ADVENTURE IN MARYLAND 199 



left there for New York some time in the first half of the 
year 1770. The account is from the pen of Dr. William M. 
Dallam, a son of Josias Dallam, who was one of the earliest 
and conspicuous Methodists of Maryland, and it is preserved 
with the papers of the Eev. Dr. Robert Emory. 

Williams "reached our home on Saturday, having come 
from Baltimore," says Dr. Dallam, " and the next sabbath my 
father took him to the Spesutia Church to hear the stationed 
minister there, and introduced him to many of his friends 
and acquaintances among the congregation. 

" After the service was concluded, my father proposed to 
the parson and vestry that Mr. Williams should preach in the 
church. They all objected. Mr. J. G., who owned the ad- 
joining land, stepped up and suggested that Mr. Williams 
should mount an old tree which was lying by on his premises, 
adding that he would stand near and protect him while he 
delivered his sermon. Mr. Williams consented, and took for 
his text the latter part of the sixth verse of the tenth chapter 
of Acts. The congregation was very attentive until he had 
proceeded about half through his subject when one of the 
vestry offered a man a gallon of rum to pull him down. He 
rushed through the crowd and did so. The act created con- 
siderable confusion and some of the incensed assembly 
seemed disposed to proceed to further violence. 

" At length it was agreed to decide the matter by vote. 
The majority were favorable to his continuing his discourse, 
and again the ambassador of Christ mounted the fallen tree 
and proclaimed the awful and momentous truths of the gos- 
pel. By the time he had concluded several of the congrega- 
tion were struck to the heart, and among the number the 
Rev. T. G* and his brother. I mentioned the above circum- 
stance to Mr. G. during his last visit to the county and asked 
him if he remembered it. He replied in the affirmative and 
corroborated the narrative of my father who had been dead 
some years." 

* Dr. Dallam by these initials probably meant Freeborn Garrettson, although in 
the manuscript the first initial letter appears in the form of a T rather than in that 
of an F. Garrettson was neither a preacher nor a Methodist at that time. 



200 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



The Spesutia Church, where the above scenes were wit- 
nessed, was the oldest, or one of the oldest, churches in Mary- 
land, and was near to the spot where Garrettson's Methodist 
Chapel was subsequently built, in a neighborhood known as 
Garrettson Forest. The land for this chapel was, it is said in 
a note found among Dr. Emory's papers, conveyed to the 
society by Freeborn Garrettson. Dr. Dallam says that Will- 
iams was the first Methodist preacher who visited Harford 
County, and that he was brought to the county by his father 
Mr. Josias Dallam. Pilmoor asserts that the work had spread 
into Baltimore County before Williams went to Maryland in 
1769. With the exception probably of Strawbridge and pos- 
sibly of Webb, Williams was no doubt the first herald of the 
new movement in the County of Baltimore, which at that time 
included what is now Harford County, and according to the 
tradition recorded by Dr. Dallam Mr. Williams was the first 
Methodist preacher in the latter county. 

The Bev. Henry Smith attributes the introduction of 
Methodism into one part of Baltimore County to the fact that 
in visiting Strawbridge's neighborhood Samuel Merryman 
heard him preach and as the result was converted and then 
invited the evangelist who did him so much good to visit his 
neighborhood about twenty-five or thirty miles away. Straw- 
bridge accordingly went there, preached in Merryman's house 
and soon after a class was formed.* Whether this was be- 
fore or after Williams preached at the Spesutia Church lo- 
cality, which was also the place of Freeborn Garrettson's na- 
tivity, I know not, but it must have been near to that time. 

Pilmoor's first term in New York was rendered notable by 
his evangelistic peregrinations among the contiguous rural 
communities. More than once he preached at Harlem and 
he made one trip there to visit a long afflicted woman. On 
the eleventh of June he preached in an inn on Long Island. 
Eleven da}^s later, in compliance with a pressing invitation 
to preach at West Chester, he with two friends proceeded 
thither. " The morning was calm and pleasant," he writes, 
" the air salubrious, the fields adorned with grass and flow- 

* Recollections of an Old Itinerant, pp. 205, 6. 



WHITEFIELD AND PILMOOR MEET IN NEW YORK 201 

ers and the valleys stood thick with corn." When he had 
travelled about fourteen miles he met a young man who was 
coming to conduct him through the woods. He dined at 
Mr. Bartow's, "a good man descended from a family of French 
Refugees." Thence he proceeded to Mr. Bartow's brother's, 
who was clerk of the county, and then rode on to the town, 
where he says, " I preached in the Court House and found 
great liberty. After sermon went home with Mr. Smith's 
family and kept meeting in the evening." The date of this 
sermon at West Chester was June 22, 1770. We shall 
quickly see him going to the country again. 

Whitefield, with whom Pilmoor and Boardman, as we have 
seen, enjoyed a profitable and memorable interview in Lon- 
don shortly before they sailed for Philadelphia, and who left 
England a few weeks after their departure therefrom on his 
seventh and final voyage to this country, had now reached 
New York. Of course Pilmoor could not fail to call upon the 
great preacher. On June 27, 1770, he says : " I had the 
honor to wait upon the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, and congratu- 
late him on his safe arrival in New York. He was remark- 
ably loving and affectionate and desired me to be quite free 
and frequently call upon him. My heart was closely knit to 
him as a choice messenger of the Most High God and pecul- 
iarly favored of Heaven." 

Wesley wrote to Whitefield in the beginning of 1770 in 
regard to his preachers in America, and said, "Who knows 
but before your return to this country I may pay another 
visit to the New World ? I have been strongly solicited by 
several of our friends in New York and Philadelphia. They 
urge many reasons, some of which appear to be of consider- 
able weight. And my age is no objection at all, for I bless 
God my health is not barely as good, but abundantly better 
in several respects than when I was five and twenty. But 
there are so many reasons on the other side that as yet I can 
determine nothing ; so I must wait for further light. Here I 
am, let the Lord do with me as seemeth him good. For the 
present I must beg of you to supply my lack of service by 
encouraging the preachers as you judge best (who are as yet 



202 THE WESLEY AN" MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



comparatively young and inexperienced) by giving them such 
advices as you think proper ; and above all by exhorting 
them not only to ' love one another,' but ' if it be possible ' as 
much as lies in them 'live peaceably with all men.' " * 

Pilmoor's account of his intercourse with Whitefield in 
New York indicates that the eloquent evangelist loyally re- 
garded the request in the above letter of his cherished 
friend, and, as he had opportunity, encouraged and counselled 
the preachers whom Wesley had sent to these Western 
shores. No doubt Pilmoor and Boardman were animated by 
the example and refreshed and inspired by the fellowship and 
preaching of Whitefield in the summer of 1770. 

Whitefield preached in New York on Sunday, June 26. 
" I began at six o'clock," says Pilmoor, " that the people 
might be at liberty to attend him. In the evening he preached 
again, and as it was in the time of our preaching I did not 
think proper to interfere with him, and therefore did not 
preach in our chapel, but left the people at liberty to hear 
that most excellent minister of Jesus Christ. Oh, that the 
great Shepherd and Bishop of souls may crown his faithful 
labors with abundant success." 

The presence and ministry of Whitefield in the city gave 
Pilmoor the opportunity for another advance upon the adja- 
cent country. Accordingly, on Monday, June 27, he says : 
" As Mr. Whitefield was to stay some time in the city I set 
off for Long Island." At Newtown he found a fine congre- 
gation, to whom he gave a sermon from the first Psalm, and 
he declares that " the Lord made it a special blessing to the 
people." 

The last sabbath of this last visit save one of Whitefield 
to the city of New York was the first day of July. He was 
then only three months from the close of his mortal voyage. 
Seven times was he tossed upon the stormy Atlantic in com- 
ing to toil in this new land. Now, with outspread sail, he was 
nearing the eternal harbor and about to cast anchor within 
the veil. As he was yet in the prime of his splendid powers 
probably he did not suspect that his barque was already ap- 

* Whitehead's Life of Wesley, vol. ii., pp. 344-45. 



WHITEFIELD'S LABORS IN NEW YOEK IN 1770 203 



proaching the shores of heaven. Indeed, less than two 
months previously he wrote that he " was rather better than 
he had been for many years." This Sunday in New York 
was well improved. Of it Pilmoor writes: "I preached at 
five in the morning, and at eight in the evening that there 
might not even seem to be any opposition to dear Mr. White- 
field, and God greatly rewarded me by converting a sinner. 
Unto thy name, O Lord, be all the praise." 

The next day, July 2, 1770, Whitefield left New York for 
Albany. He turned his face northward, and proceeded to 
compass a large circuit before he should go to New England, 
whence he was so soon to ascend to the New Jerusalem. On 
the occasion of his departure Pilmoor wrote : " Mr. White- 
field embarked for Albany, and intends to visit the people in 
the back settlements. Truly he is in labors more abundant. 
Many condemn, but few are either able or willing to imitate 
him." 

Of his journey from New York into the interior of the 
province the great evangelist wrote : " July 2, 1770. Sailed 
from New York with Mr. Kirkland and two kind old friends, 
and arrived at Albany July 6. Was kindly received by Mr. 
Bays and Dominie Westaloe. Preached the same evening, 
and went the next day to see the Cohoes Falls, twelve miles 
from Albany. O thou wonder-working God. Preached twice 
on the Lord's day at Albany and the next day at Schenec- 
tady, and was struck with the delightful situation of the 
place. Heard afterwards that the word ran and was glorified 
both there and at Albany. Grace, Grace ! " 

As Pilmoor justly said, Whitefield was " abundant in la- 
bors." He saw that " the night cometh." He felt what Ten- 
nyson has expressed, 

"The tender grace of a day that is dead 
Will never come back to me." 

The renowned and tireless preacher is again in New 
York for the last time, and thence he wrote to his friend, 
Mr. Keen, July 29, 1770 : " During this month I have been 
above a five hundred miles circuit and have been enabled to 



204 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



preach and travel through the heat every clay. The congre- 
gations have been very large, attentive, and affected, particu- 
larly at Albany, Schenectady, Great Barrington, Norfolk, Sal- 
isbury, Sharon, Sraithfield, Poughkeepsie, Fishkill, New Rum- 
bart, and Peekskill. Last night I returned hither, and hope 
to set out for Boston in two or three days. O what a scene 
of usefulness is opening in this New World. All fresh works 
where I have been. The Divine influence has been as at 
the first. Invitations crowd upon me both from ministers 
and people from many quarters. A very peculiar providence 
led me lately to a place where a horse-stealer was executed. 
Thousands attended. The sheriff allowed him to come and 
hear a sermon under an adjacent tree. Solemn ! Solemn ! 
After being by himself about an hour I walked half a mile 
with him to the gallows. His heart had been softened by my 
first visit. He seemed full of Divine consolations. An in- 
structive walk ! I went up with him into the cart. He gave 
a short exhortation. I then stood upon the coffin ; added, I 
trust, a word in season, prayed, gave the blessing, and took 
my leave. I hope effectual good was done to the hearers and 
spectators." 

Whitefield, before going to New York, was in Philadelphia. 
As Boardman was then in the latter city, no doubt he en- 
joyed the society and ministry of the celebrated preacher. In- 
deed at that time Whitefield preached in Boardman's pulpit 
in Philadelphia. A Philadelphia newspaper, in its issue of 
May 24, 1770, said : " Since our last the Be v. Mr. Whitefield 
has preached at St. Peter's, St. Paul's, the Arch Street Pres- 
byterian and Methodist Churches to crowded audiences, and 
this day he proposes preaching at the Swede Church near 
Darby." * Boardman and Pilmoor were greatly favored in 
thus coming within the influence of this illustrious and apos- 
tolic evangelist. In him they saw a model of zeal and of labor 
and also of simplicity, fidelity, and power in the proclamation 
of the gospel. In eloquence, of course, he was inimitable. 

Of his work in Philadelphia Whitefield wrote, May 24, 
1770 : " I have now been here near three weeks. People of 

* Philadelphia Journal and Weekly Advertiser, May 24, 1770. 



SECOND EXCHANGE OF BOARDMAN AND PILMOOR 205 



all ranks flock as muck as ever. Impressions are made on 
many, and I trust they will abide. Notwithstanding I preach 
twice on the Lord's day, and three or four times a week be- 
sides, yet I am rather better than I have been for many 
years." About three weeks later, namely June 14, he again 
wrote from Philadelphia : " This leaves me just returned from 
a hundred and fifty miles circuit, in which, blessed be God, I 
have been enabled to preach every day. So many invitations 
are sent from various quarters that I know not which way to 
turn myself." Had Boardman's journal (if he kept one) come 
down to us as has Pilmoor's, we should probably see a record 
from his pen of the work of Whitefield, and of personal inter- 
course with him at this time in Philadelphia. No doubt the 
Wesleyan societies in both that city and New York received 
an impulse from the marvellous evangelical oratory of that 
wonderful Apollos. 

The week of the departure of Whitefield from New York 
was to Pilmoor a time of physical affliction. Amid his ill- 
ness, however, he enjoyed spiritual consolation. "On Satur- 
day the disorder began to abate," he says, " and I found my- 
self something better. This was a trial to me, as I had got 
within sight of the harbor and wished to enter in." 

The time is now at hand for the second exchange of 
Boardman and Pilmoor. In a review of his work of almost 
four months in New York the latter saw reason for rejoicing. 
The twenty- third and twenty-fourth of July, 1770, he " spent 
in regulating the society, and found abundant cause of thank- 
fulness. Several have been thoroughly convinced of sin, a 
goodly number have found peace with God, and believers are 
greatly built up and strengthened in the Lord. The word of 
the Lord has free course, and prejudice is in a great measure 
taken away. As this is the case I trust my dear Brother 
Boardman will see glorious days." 

Pilmoor was to meet Boardman at Princeton, New Jer- 
sey. He left New York on the twenty-fifth of July, 1770, 
and advanced toward Philadelphia. Several friends accom- 
panied him as far as Newark. They returned to New York 
after dinner, and Pilmoor and Mr. Jarvis went on to New 



206 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Brunswick, where they passed the night. It does not ap- 
pear that Pilmoor preached in either Newark or New Bruns- 
wick, which were then small towns. The next morning they 
reached Princeton, which was a half-way place between Phila- 
delphia and New York. There they met Boardman and some 
friends from Philadelphia. After two or three hours spent 
there together, Boardman went with Jarvis to New York, and 
Pilmoor went forward, as he says, " with my dear Philadel- 
phians." In the course of his journey Pilmoor preached at 
Birdington [Bordentown, as I believe], in a Baptist meeting- 
house, and also in the town hall in Burlington, New Jersey, 
to a fine congregation, "with great freedom." The service at 
Burlington was on the twenty-seventh of July, 1770, at ten 
o'clock in the forenoon. The same evening Pilmoor reached 
Philadelphia, just in time to preach " in our own church." 
His sermon was delivered to an excellent congregation, from 
" Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy pal- 
aces." 



CHAPTEK Vn. 



THE PHILADELPHIA HEROINE AND FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS — 

MARY THORN. 

Early Methodism had among its conspicuous propaga- 
tors some gifted and devoted women, whose names can never 
die. Of these was Susannah Wesley, whose piety, insight, 
and judgment were of great value to her son in guiding and 
promoting the new revival. But for her interposition it is 
doubtful whether the lay ministry would have been organized, 
for John Wesley at first did not approve it. His mother's 
positive declarations in its favor were conclusive with him. 
That lay ministry spread the cause rapidly over the British 
Isles, and planted and extended it on the American shore. 

When Mr. Wesley heard a complaint of the irregularity 
of Maxfield's preaching, he hastened to London to stop 
it. " His mother then lived in his house adjoining the 
foundry. When he arrived she perceived that his coun- 
tenance was expressive of dissatisfaction, and inquired the 
cause. ' Thomas Maxfield,' said he, abruptly, ' has turned 
preacher, I find.' She looked attentively at him and replied, 
* John, you know what my sentiments have been. You can- 
not suspect me of favoring readily anything of this kind. 
But take care what you do with respect to that young man, 
for he is as surely called of God to preach as you are. Ex- 
amine what have been the fruits of his preaching, and hear 
him also yourself.' He did so. His prejudice bowed before 
the force of truth, and he could only say, ' It is the Lord ; 
let him do what seemeth him good.' " * Thus originated 
that mighty arm of the Wesley an system — the lay ministry. 

Besides Mrs. Wesley, Methodism in England had at an 

* Life of Wesley, by Coke and Moore, London, 1791, p. 220. 



208 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

early period several " elect " women, who were notable orna- 
ments and helpers thereof. Lady Huntingdon, Lady Max- 
well, Mrs. Fletcher, Hester Ann Rogers, are imperishable 
names that are redolent of sanctity. Among the " elect " 
ladies of American Methodism, Barbara Heck and Mary 
Thorn were foremost in time and in usefulness. At a very 
early period of the cause in America, Mrs. Thorn became a 
potent and heroic instrument of its advancement. 

It appears to have been in the year 1770 that she became 
connected with the infant Wesleyan cause in Philadelphia, as 
in a letter addressed by her to Drs. Coke and Clarke, July 29, 
1813, she asserted that she had been a Methodist forty-three 
years. By subtracting forty-three from 1813, we have 1770, 
from which year we date her connection with Methodism. 

Lednum gathered a few traditions of Mrs. Thorn, some 
of which are vindicated by old manuscript documents, and es- 
pecially by her own autobiographic narrative. Born in Bris- 
tol, Pennsylvania, she settled with her parents in the South, 
where she married a Mr. Thorn. There she became a mem- 
ber of the Baptist church, under the ministry of the Rev. 
Oliver Hart. An autograph letter of Mr. Hart to Mrs. 
Thorn, dated Charleston, April 1, 1772, which is still pre- 
served, shows that he held her in high regard as a signal 
trophy of his ministry. He refers in exultant terms to her 
conversion, calls her his "very dear child," and says, "As 
such I must still address you. No distance of time or place 
can ever make me forget the endearing character which points 
out the relation that subsists between us in the bonds of the 
gospel. If I should get to heaven before you, and should 
then be possessed of my present feelings, I would on your ar- 
rival address the throne of glory in some such language as this : 
Heavenly Father, behold a child whom thou hast most gra- 
ciously given me, given me in an acceptable time when my 
heart was much discouraged and I was complaining — sure I 
labor in vain and spend my strength for nought — even then 
thou didst give me this seal. She has been my joy. I would 
now humbly claim her as part of my crown in these sweet 
realms of bliss. Father, she has come out of great tribulation, 



MRS. thoen's letter to des. coke and claeke 209 



Las washed her robes in the blood of the Lamb. May she 
now walk before thee in white and join all this Heavenly 
throng in singing the wonders of redeeming love to all 
eternity." 

Some time after her conversion Mrs. Thorn, then a widow, 
went with her parents to Philadelphia. There she prayed for 
divine direction in seeking a house for worship. While mov- 
ing through the streets in her search for one she came, Led- 
num says, to a place where Mr. Pilmoor was conducting wor- 
ship, and she entered it. " She was soon impressed that the 
Lord had heard " her and guided her there. Mrs. Thorn in 
becoming and continuing a Methodist encountered persecu- 
tion. Her loyalty to Methodism was demonstrated by her 
endurance of the extraordinary animosity shown to her by 
her nearest human friends. She withstood not merely de- 
sertion by kindred and expulsion from her church, but also 
physical jeopardy. Her heroism was like that of Luther's 
and Wesley's. 

The letter to which I have already referred which Mrs. 
Thorn in 1813 addressed to Drs. Coke and Clarke, is mainly 
autobiographic. She gives in outline the story of her life as 
a Methodist. I do not know that any portion of that pathetic 
epistle was ever in print. But for its preservation through al- 
most four score years, we of to-day would know but very little 
of the heroine whose character and deeds shed lustre upon one 
of the early pages of American Methodist history. She refers 
to the reproaches of the early Methodists and says : " Such it 
was when Mr. Pilmoor and Mr. Boardman planted the first 
Methodist Church in America, when after having been a 
member of the Baptist Church seven years I cried, this peo- 
ple shall be my people, and their God my God. This I did 
not for honor, since in their meeting I was struck down nearly 
lifeless. At the hazard of my life I was pitched through a 
glass door, and when a leader of three classes I was re- 
proached with the name of Mother Confessor, pelted through 
the streets and stoned in effigy. It was for this that one 
armed stood behind the class door to kill me, till the Lord 
smote him with a better weapon. For this cause it was that 



210 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



my husband at the hazard of his life rescued a Methodist 
preacher from the mob by slipping him through a window. 
For this cause it was that I was soon called to make as great 
a sacrifice as perhaps human nature can bear — to forsake a 
beloved father and mother for the cause of religion. My 
mother, alarmed because one son and two daughters were 
under convictions, in the bitterness of her soul cried out, 
' These birds of passage have bereaved me of my children ; 
they will all be in Bedlam.' She then interposed her author- 
ity and said, ' You shall either forsake the Methodists or we 
will forsake you and leave the country.' A day of w r ormwood 
and gall, never to be forgotten, when my mind was in an 
agony, and that word of our Lord thundered in my soul, 
' He that loveth father and mother more than me is not wor- 
thy of me.' I cried out, it is enough Lord, here I am, do 
with me as seemeth good in thy sight, only save my soul. 
Thus I gave my final answer to my dear mother, and never 
saw them more. This I suffered only for Methodism, their 
only cause of offence." 

Mrs. Thorn, as we see, became a class leader and also a 
band leader in Philadelphia. The " band " was a strictly 
close meeting composed of persons of one sex. It was de- 
signed for a fuller narration by the members to one another 
of the temptations and inward exercises of the Christian life 
than was expedient in the class meeting ; and also for appro- 
priate mutual counsel, admonition and prayer. The " band " 
long since fell out of use because it did not, like the class 
meeting, supply a real and enduring need. We find that in 
1790 there were signs of its decadence in New York City. 
William Jessup, who was then stationed there, in his manu- 
script journal, November 25th of the above year, says: "In 
the evening I met the bands in the church, and out of better 
than twenty there were but three that spoke. I felt some- 
what discouraged and exhorted them to do better in the 
future." Methodism has wisely modified its methods as ex- 
perience has shown to be necessary. We learn from Mrs. 
Thorn that in the early Methodism of Philadelphia the band 
meeting was maintained. 



MRS. THORN'S LEADERSHIP 



211 



The Wesleyan revival gave to woman large opportunity for 
service. Mr. Wesley's attitude respecting the question of 
woman's work in his societies was pronounced. Mrs. Thorn 
probably was the first Methodist female class leader in 
America, and in the exercise of her gifts in that office she 
was in harmony with the views and teachings of Mr. Wesley. 
Indeed, as we shall see, at a later period in her life Wesley/ 
himself appointed her to be a class leader in London. 

While she was active as a Methodist she also continued in 
fellowship with the Baptist Church in Philadelphia. This was 
in accordance with the Wesleyan plan, which left all the mem- 
bers of the Methodist societies free to remain in any church 
to which they had previously belonged. Jesse Lee says of the 
early American Methodists : " We were only a religious so- 
ciety and not a church, and any members of any church who 
would conform to our rules and meet in a class had liberty to 
continue in their own church."* Here Mary Thorn met a 
singular and severe trial, which in her letter to Drs. Coke and 
Clarke she graphically and pathetically describes. 

"While a leader of three classes and two bands," she 
says, "I remained a member of the Baptist Church, which it 
may be remembered was not inconsistent with Mr. Wesley's 
first intention of Methodism. This however roused the elders 
and deacons of the Baptist Church. This was a community 
that I highly esteemed, yet for the Methodists it was given 
up. They appointed persons to reason with me for three 
months to resign my class papers and to renounce the Meth- 
odists. At last I and their other members that had met 
amongst the Methodists were summoned before the Associa- 
tion. We were called and examined singly. After having 
stood this trial we were placed before the communion table, 
where the ministers, elders and deacons sat, and after an ex- 
hortation, ten of us standing firm, the books were opened and 
with awful denunciations our names before the whole congre- 
gation were erased out. My heart being full, I said, Blessed 
be God, ye cannot erase my name out of the Lamb's book of 
life ; we know whom we worship. The sacrament was ad- 

* History of the Methodists, p. 47. 



212 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



ministered, but we were turned to the left, and not allowed 
to partake. But I can truly say I never felt the Lord so 
present and precious at a sacrament as at that time. Of a 
truth he broke to my soul the bread of life. I could then 
and I can still say, 

" 1 Whom man forsakes, Thou wilt not leave 
Keady the outcast to receive.' 

This was another sacrifice for the same cause. 

" With a soul full of joy and sorrow I returned home and 
found Mr. Asbury, who said : ' Now sister I will give you the 
right hand of fellowship.' After this the Eev. Mr. Percy, 
cousin to Earl Percy, was directed by the Rev. Oliver Hart 
to persuade my revolt from the Methodists. This I also with- 
stood." 

Mrs. Thorn's expulsion from the Baptist Church on ac- 
count of her devotion to the Wesleyan cause probably oc- 
curred in 1772 or 1773, for she asserts that it was after that 
event that Mr. Percy sought to induce her to forsake the 
Methodists. Percy and Pilmoor met in Charleston and there, 
in his journal, Pilmoor wrote that, February 20, 1773, "he 
had a message from Mr. Percy, one of Lady Huntington's 
ministers who is just arrived from England." 

Pilmoor refers to " mighty tribulations " which a female 
class leader in Philadelphia suffered. It is highly probable 
that she of whom he speaks was Mary Thorn. In Philadel- 
phia in his Journal under the date of November 22, 1773, 
he wrote : " I was fetched to visit one of the leaders who has 
long been happy, but is now under the buffetings of Satan. 
I spoke freely with her and had sweet liberty in prayer, so 
that I could not doubt that the Lord would soon bring her 
out of all her mighty tribulations and make her far happier 
than ever she had been." 

It was such heroic faith, fortitude and zeal as Mrs. Thorn 
displayed in adhering to her sense of right that gave to early 
Methodism its distinctive power and made it so aggressive 
and victorious. Such a heroine whose loyalty to her convic- 
tions of truth and duty had been tried in the very fire of per- 



HOW METHODISM CONQUERED 



213 



secution would not fear the devil nor his cohorts, whether the 
latter were of human or diabolic shape. There could not be 
failure of a cause which was led by souls of such apostolic and 
martyr mould and temper. Mary Thorn would not have 
shrunk from the stake and its flames, had she met the dread 
alternative. The Wesleyan system and doctrines were excel- 
lently adapted to promote evangelical enterprise and to win 
the approval and sympathy of the multitude, yet they could 
not have given to Methodism its unparalleled sway in the 
land, but for that vital experience and power which made 
even timid woman invincible in the presence of derision, 
bodily peril and abandonment by her parents and her 
church. The early Methodists triumphed by their faith, 
with which they became "mighty through God." They were 
of that army of the faithful, "who through faith subdued 
Kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped 
the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped 
the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, 
waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the 
aliens." The Samson lock in which lay their strength was 
the experimental religion of which they testified — a religion 
which was "not in word but in power," which was "peace 
and joy in the Holy Ghost." Shorn of this experience and 
of their testimony thereto the Methodists would have been 
as weak as other men. 

In the letter to Mrs. Thorn from her former Baptist 
pastor, the Be v. Oliver Hart, of Charleston, dated April 1, 
1772, there is indication of the fact of her rejection by her 
family on account of her Methodism, and of the necessity 
which was upon her to earn a subsistence. He speaks of her 
as suffering " great tribulation," and he also says : " So you 
intend to travel with a lady. I hope it may be to your ad- 
vantage on all accounts. But, pray, why are you never to 
return to America again ? Suppose your relatives take no 
notice of you, there are many others who esteem you. I 
thought when you left Charleston you were to have returned 
hither again. You will find it much harder living in Europe 
than in America, and you are not calculated to go through a 



214 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

great deal of hard labor. However, I hope God will direct 
you for the best. Peace be with you. I am, yours in our 
Immanuel." 

Oliver Hart was a conspicuous preacher and patriot. He 
joined a Baptist church in 1741, in his native Pennsylvania, 
when in his eighteenth year. He heard the wonderful gos- 
pel eloquence of Whitefield, and also the preaching of the 
Tennents. In 1750 he was installed as pastor of the Baptist 
church in Charleston, South Carolina, in whose service he 
labored above thirty years.* Ardently devoted to liberty, 
he became prominent in the cause of American independ- 
ence. In 1775 the Council of Safety appointed him to travel 
in the interior of South Carolina to represent the political 
situation. When, in 1780, Charleston was surrendered to 
the British, Mr. Hart went north, and in December of that 
year became pastor of the Baptist church at Hopewell, New 
Jersey, which relation he sustained to the close of his life, 
which was on the last day of 1795, in his seventy-third year. 
His piety was reputed as not only genuine, but eminent. His 
sermons were " a happy assemblage of doctrinal truths, set in 
an engaging light and enforced with convincing arguments." 
He was a winner of souls. The Kev. Dr. Samuel Stillman, 
of Boston, one of the most pious and popular preachers in 
New England, was awakened under Mr. Hart's preaching 
in Charleston, joined his church, and, after completing his 
classical studies, was a divinity student under Hart. Such 
was the man who rejoiced in Mary Thorn as a seal to his 
ministry. She was one of the foremost of American women 
in religious labor and usefulness. When Hart approached 
the dying hour, he " called upon all around him to help him 
praise the Lord for what He had done for his soul. Being 
told that he would soon join the company of the saints and 
angels, he replied ' Enough ! Enough ! "' t His relation to 
Mrs. Thorn in the opening of her Christian career, and his 
epistolary intercourse with her subsequently, connects him 
with our narrative. Through her he contributed to the ad- 
vancement of Methodism in both America and Europe. 

* Sprague's Annals of the American Baptist Pulpit, p. 48. t Ibid. 



THE FIRST METHODIST DEACONESS 



215 



It seems probable that Mrs. Thorn did not go to Europe, 
as Hart indicates it was then her purpose to do, but rather 
she remained and toiled in the Wesleyan revival in Philadel- 
phia. Lednum says that "she supported herself by teach- 
ing a school." He says " she lived near the corner of Broad 
and Mulberry Streets, and often did Boardman, Pilmoor, 
Asbury, and others of the early laborers, turn into her house 
for retirement and intercourse with heaven." We shall pres- 
ently see that when the soldiers appropriated St. George's to 
their use in the Revolutionary War, her house became their 
place of worship. 

Mrs. Thorn was not only a class leader, but she had the 
charge of three separate Methodist classes in Philadelphia at 
one time, and also of two bands. This fact affords indica- 
tion of her uncommon gifts and of the extent of her religious 
activity. It appears that at another time she had but two 
classes. In one of his autograph letters to her, which is yet 
preserved, Boardman says : "I am glad you have two 
classes ; I should have no objection against your having 
three. There is a wide difference between being tired of 
and tired in, the service of God. However, I hope both 
classes will be taken from you the moment you think your- 
self sufficient to be a leader. I look upon a deep sense of 
insufficiency as a necessary qualification of a class leader. 
It is better to wear out than to rust out. God will not for- 
get the work of faith, the patience of hope, and the labor of 
love. . . . Do remember me in the kindest manner to 
Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, Mr. and Mrs. Dove and Robinson, 
Wilmers, and to all and every one of your girls. May you be 
happy together." 

The reference in this letter to Mrs. Thorn's girls appears 
to corroborate the statement of Lednum that she earned a 
temporal support by teaching. The presumption, therefore, 
is that she taught a school of girls in Philadelphia. 

Mrs. Thorn was not only abundant in labors in St. 
George's, but she also gave herself with brave devotion to 
the more general and less agreeable work of the Christian 
vineyard. She was the first Methodist deaconess in this 



216 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



country of which we have record. Though she did not bear 
the name, she did the work. She, too, is a worthy example 
of the lately established order of deaconess in Methodism — 
an order which is increasingly important and useful because 
of the sympathetic and Christ-like ministry it renders through 
gentle and saintly womanhood to the suffering and the per- 
ishing. 

War and pestilence caused great occasion in Philadelphia 
for the exercise of the beneficent activity of self-sacrificing 
workers for Him, who, from his white judgment throne, shall 
say to his servants, " I was sick and ye visited me." Mrs. 
Thorn asserts that " when Philadelphia was besieged by the 
war, the famine, and the plague, I took my life in my hand, 
and by day and by night visited the hospitals and the sick 
and the dying, whether by wounds or the plague, when not 
the nearest friend would approach because of the infection. 
Thus, by attending them in their extremity, I sometimes had 
the consolation of seeing them die happy. This I continued 
till the Methodist chapel the soldiers made into a riding- 
school, and my house became their chapel." * 

It was during the occupancy of Mrs. Thorn's house for 
worship by the Methodists that she formed an acquaintance 
with Captain Parker, who became her husband. The gen- 
eral accuracy of Lednum in the brief sketch he gives of her 
history is illustrated by his assertion that some time before 
the war of Independence closed " she married Captain 
Parker and they went to England." These facts her own 
epistolary narrative attests. Her departure to England oc- 
curred in 1778, as we know by her statement that Thomas 
Rankin, whom Wesley placed in charge of the American 
work in 1773, returned in the same ship. 

"Mr. Parker's ship," she says, "returning to England, 
Mr. Rankin and other preachers then came with us, having a 
present made of their passage. All the way over we had 
singing, preaching and class meetings." 

She subsequently deplored having left Philadelphia. 

* Autobiographic letter of Mrs. Thorn (then Mrs. Parker) to Drs. Coke and 
Clarke, dated Liverpool, 21 Bridport Street, July 29, 1813. In MS. 



BOARDMAN AND PILMOOR WRITE TO MRS. THORN 217 

" Here I did wrong," she declares. " Though at that time 
surrounded by war and bloodshed I should, as Mr. Asbury 
then did, have stood my ground and not have fled. I was ac- 
companied to the ship by a number of weeping friends." 

According to Bankin's statement they sailed to Cork. 
Boardman, who had left America more than four years pre- 
viously, was then on the Cork circuit. " At Cork," she says, 
" my old friend Mr. Boardman introduced me to Mr. Wesley, 
with whom and the Methodist preachers we lived on terms of 
particular intimacy, for then my husband was a person of 
property, had a good ship at sea, money in the funds, and his 
house, his purse and his heart were open to all the preachers 
and the cause. Mr. Wesley appointed him a steward for 
Gravel Lane chapel, London, and me a class-leader, and so at 
Scarborough, Yorkshire, where my husband was steward and 
trusteee and myself leader of two classes. Here also and at 
Newby our house was a welcome and a frequent home for the 
preachers and their families. Thus we went on receiving 
and doing all the good we could." 

There are several autograph epistles in existence which I 
have examined, that were addressed to Mrs. Thorn by her two 
friends and pastors in Philadelphia, Boardman and Pilmoor. 
They show the prominence of this " elect lady," and the high 
place she held in their friendship. The letters addressed to 
her by Boardman, of whom we have but scant memorials, 
illustrate the mental and religious character of the man. None 
of his letters to her, however, show the year in which they 
were written. In every instance but one he gives the date 
of the month, but always omits the year. A brief letter 
from him to Mrs. Thorn is dated simply November 13, and is 
as follows : 

" My Dear Friend : 

" Last Thursday I left York and through mercy got safe 
to Trenton this morning. Think to stay in this round till 
the cold drives me away. How much to be wished for is the 
haven of eternal rest where toil, temptation, and affliction will 
all be over ; where we shall have nothing to do but to admire 



218 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



and praise forever. Things go well in York. Hope before 
long to see Philadelphia. Kind love to Mr. and Mrs. Dowers, 
Mrs. Robinson." 

This epistle was probably written in 1772 and certainly 
not later than 1773. 

One of the letters of Pilmoor to Mrs. Thorn was written 
after his return to England. It is dated Kingswood, April 
9, 1775, and is directed to " Mrs. Mary Thorn, at Mr. Dow- 
er's, Arch Street, Philadelphia." Pilmoor therein says : 

"Dear Molly, 

" Fifteen months are elapsed since I had the happiness of 
seeing my dear Philadelphians and as much since I heard from 
you. I think I gave you an opportunity of hearing from me 
which might have been acknowledged if all things had been 
well. Suppose you think I had missed my way, you should 
give me timely warning and invite me to return. No more 
than I might have expected from one who has expressed a 
tender regard for my present and future happiness. My chil- 
dren should not disown me, for though I am absent from 
them, I am their father still. . . I am at present fully re- 
solved to go forward after Jesus Christ, and expect to meet 
you by and by either in the western world or in the world 
above us. In this we enjoy much happiness, but in that there 
is fullness of bliss. May the Redeemer bless you." 

In one of the letters of Boardman to Mrs. Thorn he gave 
her some pertinent religious advice and encouragement. 
Among the counsels he gave her were the following : 

" I received your very welcome favor a few days ago and 
was not a little glad to hear from you. You need to have 
made no apology for its length, seeing the longer the better. 
I still find you harping on the same string, an evil heart, un- 
belief, and a variety of (shall I say?) very pleasing com- 
plaints. When you read the Bible I intend sending you the 
first opportunity, perhaps it may lead you to think you lived 
in the days of old David or Jeremiah the prophet, and that 



BOARDMAN COUNSELS MARY THORN 



219 



David after hearing your experience wrote the forty-second 
Psalm. It is a true maxim, ' the man is known by his com- 
pany.' Don't fall out with yours. David is now in heaven 
after all his complaints and unreasonable fears, and if you 
and I get there too I doubt not we shall be ashamed of our 
doubts and complaints and wonder at our ignorance and pre- 
sumption in daring to question His faithfulness and love to- 
ward us. 

" We have need to do all we can for God, our neighbor 
and ourselves. He that watereth shall be watered. I'll tell 
thee what, my dear Polly, the Devil is too expert in the art of 
reasoning to be made a fool of. Reasoning with is meeting 
the Devil on his own ground where he is sure to conquer. 
You say you know this to be true. I hope then you are not 
enchanted, but will now quit the field, and for the future fight 
the Lord's battles as he himself directs. Put on the whole 
armor of God, as described Eph. 6-12." 

Another letter from Boardman to Mrs. Thorn was dated 
New York, September 9, the year being omitted. It was, how- 
ever, almost certainly 1773, as he speaks of "going home," 
which he did at the opening of the following year. This let- 
ter opens thus : 

" How little do we know of the purposes of God concern- 
ing us. We still seem undetermined with regard to our 
going home. Perhaps it is best so. May it teach us to have 
no will of our own. God begins to revive his work here. I 
think there is a pretty general quickening in the society. A 
few have lately found peace with God. I find it is good to 
plow and sow in hope. The time of gathering in will come." 

How wonderful has been the ingathering in the Wesley an 
department of the Christian fold in America since those 
prophetic words dropped from Boardman's pen. 

Mrs. Thorn's was a very noble and useful, and yet a 
somewhat calamitous career. In the early part of her life as 
a Methodist she, like St. Paul, "suffered the loss of all things " 
for her conscientious devotion to a humble but holy cause. 
To that cause she gave her consecrated talents, and in its ser- 
vice she must have wielded a very positive religious power in 



220 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Philadelphia. For a period she enjoyed honor and compe- 
tence, if not opulence. But through all she held on her way 
as a leading woman in the Wesleyan movement. It was her 
privilege to be associated in friendship and work with Wes- 
ley, with Pilmoor, Boardman, Asbury, Bankin, Shadford and 
other luminaries of the Methodist firmament in two hemi- 
spheres. Then the blasts of adversity smote her. Bepeated 
disasters swept away Captain Parker's worldly possessions 
and stripped the grand heroine at his side of temporal pro- 
vision for her closing years. " We lost ship after ship," she 
wrote, " till we lost our all and were reduced to poverty. So 
we continue still, grappling with extreme poverty and the in- 
firmities of old age. All our dependence is on our son." 
There was in God's good Providence one earthly consolation 
and support left to this valiant saint in her age and penury — 
the son whom she calls, " the stay and staff of our old age." 
Thus the darkness though dense was pierced by a star. Nay, 
more, her faith remained, and she yet could send forth from 
her storm-swept spirit one of her early and exultant strains, 
" Whom man forsakes thou wilt not leave." Beyond the 
roar and shock of tempests and billows lay the peaceful shore 
of the "better country," radiant, verdant, blooming, in whose 
tearless, blissful, and endless serenity the rudely buffeted 
soul of Mary Thorn was to find calm repose forever. Out 
of various and great tribulations this saintly woman, to whom 
Methodism owed so much, passed at last to her mansion and 
crown in the jewel- walled city of pure gold. She died, accord- 
ing to Lednum, " in the Methodist faith," which through all 
vicissitude and sorrow she maintained. 

The son of Captain and Mrs. Parker, Lednum says, was 
for some time a teacher at Woodhouse Grove Wesleyan 
School, in England. He came, however, "to Philadelphia 
where he died, leaving a widow and a daughter " there. 

The value of this gifted and holy woman to the infant 
Methodism of the then metropolitan city of America 
must have been incalculable. Her mental endowments and 
culture ; her total consecration to the Lord of the harvest ; 
her incessant activity and leadership in the white field where 



MARY THORN'S NAME RESCUED FROM OBLIVION 221 



her sickle was ever glittering among the reapers ; her in- 
trepidity of spirit, which no difficulty nor danger could balk 
or appal; her unselfish work as a deaconess of Mercy and 
of Christ among the sick, wounded, and dying in a military 
hospital ; her faith which " the gates of hell " could not 
shake, and her love for the Christ, which surpassed her love 
for father and mother, brother and sister — a love which many 
waters could not quench, rendered her a boon above price to 
the new revival of Wesley in the New World. Her memory 
had almost perished amid the vicissitudes of receding time. 
Lednum excepted, her name has not hitherto appeared in any 
of the histories of Methodism in America, whether by Lee, 
Bangs, Stevens, or McTyeire ; * but her record is on high. 
Her rescued memory will be immortal, and her spotless and 
imperishable fame will be especially cherished by the women 
of Methodism who will derive inspiration from the story of 
her martyr-like sufferings and triumph ; and luminous guid- 
ance in a stormy pilgrimage from her rare example of faith, 
fortitude, and zeal, and of self-devoting service. 

Mary Thorn literally surrendered her all at the despised 
but heaven-honored Wesleyan altar when but few tributes 
were laid upon it in the firm belief that thereby she pleased 
and honored Him who by sacrifice redeemed the world. His 
word to her was fulfilled ; " every one that hath left houses or 
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands 
for my name's sake, shall receive a hundred fold and shall 
inherit everlasting life." The sacrifices that wrenched her 
heart and the work she so freely and fearlessly wrought for 
Him have at last under His sure hand given her long buried 
name resurrection from the tomb, and poised it undimmed 
amidst the brilliant constellation of the heroines of the Cross, 
where it will shine a glorious and a guiding luminary in the 
sky of His Kingdom forever. 

* There is an appreciative notice of Mrs. Thorn of ten lines in Bishop Simpson's 
Cyclopedia of Methodism. 



CHAPTEE Vin. 



PHILIP EMBURY — HIS REMOVAL FROM NEW YORK CITY. 

Sometime in the year 1770, probably in the Spring, Mr. 
Embury left the City of New York where he had carved an 
ineffaceable record as the founder of Methodism in the New 
World. All that is known respecting him and his labors 
there, warrants the belief that he was a man who because 
of his intellectual, Christian and ministerial qualities was 
worthy to bear this great distinction and honor. 

The movement which he was instrumental in inaugurat- 
ing in New York is well described by Charles Wesley : 

" When he first the work began 
Small and feeble was its day." 

It is fitly illustrated by the mustard-seed of the Saviour's para- 
ble. Embury's planting has grown into proportions greatly 
beyond what it originally promised. The audience of five in 
his domicile in 1766 has swelled to millions. According to 
the elaborate statistics of the Churches of the United States, 
published in the New York Independent January 3, 1895, 
there were in 1894 in the Methodist Episcopal Church and 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, unitedly, 3,683,936 
communicants. In all the branches of the Wesleyan tree 
Embury planted, there were, according to the same author- 
ity, no less than 4,941,529 communicants in the United 
States in 1894, having 53,457 churches. 

A private book in which Embury inserted memoranda and 
which was long preserved, and probably is yet extant, con- 
tains the date of his baptism but not of his birth. He w T as 
baptized September 7, 1728. It is believed that he w T as born 
but a brief time prior to that date. His birth-place was 



embury's education, conversion, marriage 223 

Ballingran, Ireland. To that country his ancestors fled from 
the Palatinate " one of the seven original electorates of Ger- 
many " in the early part of the eighteenth century. Philip 
was sent to school to Philip Geir, of whom Mr. Wesley in 
May, 1778 said : " Two months ago good Philip Geir fell 
asleep, one of the Palatinates that came over and settled in 
Ireland between fifty and sixty years ago. He was a father 
to this and the other German societies, loving and cherishing 
them as his own children. He after two days' illness went to 
God." Geir's was a German school, and after a period spent 
as a pupil in it, Embury attended an English school. Thus 
he obtained such an education as prepared him to acquire 
further knowledge and so to do the great work which he so 
well and so successfully accomplished. 

After leaving school it is said that he served his appren- 
ticeship with a carpenter. Embury with his own hand in- 
scribed the account of his conversion very briefly in the small 
book containing his family records thus : 

" On Christmas day, being Monday, y e 25th of December 
in the year 1752, the Lord shone into my soul by a glimpse 
of his redeeming love ; being an earnest of my redemption in 
Christ Jesus, to whom be glory forever and ever, Amen." 

He was married in the Rathkeale Church, Tuesday, Octo- 
ber 31, 1758 to Margaret Sweitzer, of Court Matrix. In the 
summer of 1760 as we have seen, they with a company of 
German-Irish people sailed from Limerick to New York. 
Prior to his emigration he not only labored as a house builder, 
but also as a Wesleyan evangelist. Crook in his work on 
" Ireland and the Centenary of American Methodism " cites 
from the Minutes of the English Conference of August, 1758, 
a record to the effect that Philip Embury and thirteen others 
were proposed for travelling preachers. Some of these, Crook 
asserts, " were then appointed to a circuit, and the remainder, 
doubtless including Embury, were placed on Wesley's list of 
reserves, many of whom subsequently went out to travel." 
Embury apparently never entered the travelling ministry but 
labored as a local preacher, while supporting himself by his 
own hands. 



224 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



Coming to this country as one of a company formed in 
Ireland with the design of establishing a linen and hemp weav- 
ing industry, he and his fellow emigrants tarried in New York 
while awaiting an opportunity to obtain a location for their 
enterprise. It has been commonly believed that Embury 
pursued the calling of a carpenter during this period of de- 
lay and no intimation has been given hitherto in any pub- 
lished Methodist document that he engaged in any other sec- 
ular employment. The truth is, however, that soon after his 
arrival here, he became a pedagogue. His character, native 
intelligence and acquired knowledge evidently fitted him for 
the work of a teacher. 

So far as is known the earliest printed document extant 
concerning Embury after he arrived in America is his advertis- 
ment as a schoolmaster which was inserted in Weyman's 
Neio York Gazette, Monday, March 16, 1761, and was contin- 
ued in the same weekly Journal in its issues of March 23, and 
April 20th and 27th of the same year, making four insertions. 
This advertisement was couched in the following form of 
words : 

PHIL. EMBURY, School Master, 

Gives Notice that on the first Day of May next he intends to teach 
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic in English in the New School 
House now building in Little Queen street next Door to the Lutheran 
Minister's. And as he has been informed that several Gentlemen were 
willing to favor him with their Children he gives further Notice that 
if a sufficient Number of scholars should attend his school, he would 
teach in company with Mr. John Embury (who teaches several Branches 
belonging to Trade and Business) that Children might be carefully at- 
tended, as he faithfully desires the good of the Public. He now teaches 
at Mr. Samuel Foster's in Carman's street. 

Embury's desire to be useful is expressed in this school 
announcement. It was his purpose that the children who 
might be intrusted to him as pupils should receive careful 
attention, " as he faithfully desired the good of the public." 
The extent to which he was destined to promote " the good 
of" the American "public" by setting in operation the mighty 
reforming energies of Methodism was then to him unknown. 



AMEKICAN METHODISM FOUNDED BY A TEACHEE 225 



It would appear from the mechanical labor which he put upon 
the John Street Chapel that he afterward resumed his early 
trade. Little Queen street, where he taught, is now Cedar 
street, three squares south of John street. 

The date of the publication of this advertisement demon- 
strates that Embury taught in New York as early as five 
years prior to the time when Methodism, through his agency, 
originated there. It is, at the least, an interesting fact that 
American Methodism, which has done so great a work in 
educating the youth of the country, was founded by a 
man who was, or, at least, had been, an educator. 

Mr. Embury's labors as a Wesleyan evangelist in New 
York in 1766 and later have been narrated with sufficient de- 
tail in former pages. We have seen that he also founded 
Methodism at Ashgrove after his removal with the Hecks 
and others of his German-Irish neighbors to Camden Yalley, 
New York. About the time of his departure from the city, 
the Old John Street record book shows the following entry : 
"April 10, [1770] To Cash paid Philip Embury, to buy a 
Concordance £2 5s." This, it is supposed, was a parting 
gift of his friends of the society to whom he had borne the 
relation of preacher and pastor. 

John Embury, whose name appears in the advertisement 
above, was Philip's brother. There were at least four Em- 
bury brothers, who sailed from Ireland to New York in 
1760. The wife of the eloquent Samuel Coate was their 
niece, her mother, Mrs. Dulmage, being, as we have seen, 
Embury's sister. Death entered the Embury family in the 
city of New York. Philip lost two children, and also two 
brothers. In the book of private and family memoranda 
which was kept by him, and preserved by his descendants 
who probably yet retain it, he recorded the death of two 
of his brothers as follows : 

" Bro. John Embury died on the 7th day of April 1764 
between 10 & 11 O'clock in the morn, Saturday." 

" My brother, Peter Embury died the 24th of September 
1765 about three O'clock in the morning." 

It thus appears that Embury was in the grief of recent 



226 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



bereavement, when, early in 1766, he began his famous evan- 
gelical career in the city of New York, and laid the founda- 
tion of Methodism in America. 

The other brother, David, seems to have been a Methodist, 
and removed with him to Camden Valley, N. Y., and soon 
after returned to the city on business relating to the adjust- 
ment of the temporal affairs of the society. In the " Old 
Book " of John Street, the following document yet exists, 
with David's bold, round signature attached to it. 

Eec? New York, 13th Aug! 1770 of Mr. William Lupton five pounds 
in full, being allowed me for loss of time and travelling expenses in 
Coming from Camden in the County of Albany to N. York in order to 
Execute an Instrument relative to the Methodist Preaching house. 

David IEmbury. 

£5.. — .. — 

David's visit to the city at this time probably had some 
relation to the new deed of the John Street property, which, 
as we have seen, was executed November 2, 1770, as a result 
of the counsels given to the trustees by Pilmoor and Board- 
man in the preceding spring. The above receipt affords fur- 
ther evidence that Philip Embury removed from New York 
to Camden in the spring of 1770. 

Philip Embury's son Samuel lived to an advanced age and 
died in Canada in 1853. The Eev. Isaac Stone, who visited 
him in August, 1844, says : " The old gentleman is little of 
stature, and his hair white as wool. He informed me he was 
then seventy-eight years of age and had been a member of 
the Methodist society about fifty years. His father died, he 
said, when he was about eight years of age. A book lay on 
the table, to which the old man pointed and said it was once 
the property of his father. I took it up and found it to be 
a copy of Cruden's Concordance in quarto form. I looked 
on the blank page in front of the book, and there I saw in 
round, legible characters the name — Philip Embury — and the 
old man assured me it was the handwriting of his father." * 
That book " is now in the library of the Wesley an Theologi- 

* Mr. Stone published this passage in an article in the Northern Christian 
Advocate, and it was copied in the New York Christian Advocate, May 14, 1848. 



EMBURY'S CONCORDANCE AND REMOVAL 



227 



cal College in Montreal. It is the third edition of Cruden, 
with portrait of the author, date 1769 — a stout, leather-bound 
quarto, with a leather cover over the original binding. It 
bears the inscription in a clear, bold hand : ' Phil. Embury, 
April, 1770.' The book was presented to the college by Mrs. 
J. Rhicard, a great grand-daughter of Philip Embury." * 

The primary purpose of Embury's removal to Camden 
Yalley was his interest in a large tract of land, which as we 
have already seen had been granted to him and others by the 
government of the New York province. The researches of 
the Rev. George G. Saxe, now of Madison, New Jersey, who 
had access to " Embury's family record and other memoranda, 
mostly in his own handwriting," besides interviews with aged 
persons and correspondence with members of the family, 
have revealed some interesting data. Saxe says that some of 
Embury's old friends had preceded him to Salem, in Camden 
Yalley, among whom was Peter Sweitzer, Mrs. Embury's 
brother. Philip's " family consisted of his wife and three 
children. The dust of their first two children they left sleep- 
ing in their soon to be forgotten graves. The youngest child, 
Philip, was born in Salem, April 13, 1772." f While residing 
at Salem, Embury, says Saxe, "labored on the farm and at 
his trade, and was faithful in the discharge of his duties as a 
man, a Christian, and a minister. He preached and formed 
classes in his own and surrounding neighborhoods, and had 
the honor of establishing the first Methodist society north 
of New York. This was at Asgrove, where resided Thomas 
Ashton, J of blessed memory, and the Irish Methodists. Mr. 
Embury held the position of civil magistrate, and was much 
respected by his neighbors, while his benevolent and sympa- 
thetic nature secured him many ardent friends. His piety 
was earnest and yet cheerful. It is said he was often heard 
singing hymns while plying the implements of his trade." 
"We shall again recur to Embury when we arrive at the period 
of his death. 

*The Rev. Dr. Withrow, in the New York Christian Advocate, June 11, 1886. 
t Philip Embury, by the Rev. George G. Saxe. Ladies' Repository, May, 1859. 
X This man brought Robert Williams to America. 
10 



CHAPTEE IX. 

PILMOOR'S SECOND PERIOD OF LABOR IN PHILADELPHIA. 

Mr. Pilmoor began the second term of his ministry in 
Philadelphia July 27, 1770. The day following he was chiefly 
occupied in visiting his friends, " and was abundantly com- 
forted among them." He was gratified to be in the Quaker 
City again, which, he says, "Of all places upon earth is most 
worthy of its name, which is Brotherly Love. The inhabi- 
itahts are in general a civil, kind, generous, and honorable 
people." His labors were efiicient both in the pulpit and in 
the homes of his flock. He restored peace in a discordant 
family, and perfect union followed the reconciliation. Some 
incidents of historic significance distinguished this his sec- 
ond term in Philadelphia. He diligently proclaimed the gos- 
pel in the adjacent country as well as in the city. After a 
refreshing season at the early Sunday morning service in the 
city August 12th, he preached at ten o'clock at Gloucester 
Court House, New Jersey, where " the people seemed just 
ripe for the gospel and received the word with joy." The 
same evening he was in his pulpit in Philadelphia, and dis- 
coursed " with great freedom " to a large congregation con- 
cerning the impotent man at the pool. After a five o'clock 
service in the city on the twenty-eighth of August, he went 
in a chaise with Mr. Harris to Pennypack, near Bustleton, 
where he ministered to a large audience. He then visited 
" some of the people from house to house," after which he 
went with " a few friends to spend the afternoon with Mr. 
Salter, a Baptist, but perfectly free from bigotry," whose 
house stood upon the Delaware Eiver, commanding " a most 
delightful prospect of the Jerseys and a fine view of the har- 



PILMOOR PREACHES FREQUENTLY IN THE COUNTRY 229 

bor of Philadelphia." The next day Edward Evans preached 
in the morning in St. George's, on " Receiving grace from 
the Divine Fountain opened to the house of David." 

In an early morning hour of September 1, 1770, Pilmoor 
set off with a Mr. Beach in a chaise for Methacton, in Wor- 
cester township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, about 
twenty miles north of Philadelphia. Pilmoor, in his Journal,, 
spells the name of this place " Matching " and " Matchin," in 
conformity, no doubt, with the provincial pronunciation. The 
journey there on this occasion was difficult because of damage 
done to the roads by copious rains. He found a " simple- 
hearted and attentive " congregation " gathered from several 
miles round." He hastened to White Marsh Church the fol- 
lowing day and preached to a multitude of various denomina- 
tions. Here he received such hospitality from a Mr. Deweze, 
" a pious Episcopalian, as would have been greatly esteemed 
by the Patriarchs of old." He returned to Philadelphia in 
time to preach in the evening. Though very weary, he per- 
formed his work with much spiritual satisfaction and took " a 
collection for the expenses of the church and got ten pounds 
nine shillings. Thus," he exclaims, "the Lord provides for 
us and gives us all that we want." He held a love-feast in the 
city September 5th, which was rather dull in the beginning, 
but afterward " the people spoke freely, and even the poor 
negroes came forth and bore a noble testimony for God." 

He preached at Gloucester Court House, New Jersey, 
again on Sunday, September the 9th, while Captain Webb 
preached in Philadelphia. Pilmoor addressed " about 3,000 
souls on the Common near the city " at five in the evening. 
Webb preached also at seven in the Church. Pilmoor ex- 
pected to preach at Burlington on the ensuing Tuesday, but 
was prevented by temporary illness. The next Sunday he 
was at White Marsh, where not half of the assemblage could 
find room in the Church. With a table for his pulpit, he 
stood " under the shady trees which spread their luxuriant 
branches " above the verdant turf, " forming a most beautiful 
canopy," and preached from " The end of all things is at 
hand," etc. After dining with Mr. Deweze, he returned to 



230 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Philadelphia and to a crowded audience preached on the New 
Birth. 

The week in Philadelphia was filled with pastoral activ- 
ity. Pilmoor exulted in seeing signs of harvest. He was 
constantly employed in visiting, giving advice to the inquirers 
who came to see him, "and preaching every day. The work," 
he writes, " now begins to revive ; there is a great cry among 
the people, and many of the genteeler sort begin to hunger 
and thirst after righteousness." 

He went with Mr. Beach to Pennypack, near Bustleton, 
where he expounded the Divine Word on the second of Octo- 
ber, 1770. He intended to go to Burlington also, but says, 
" The weather was so stormy my friends advised me not to 
attempt to cross the river, so we returned to Philadelphia." 

With Edward Evans he set off for Matching (Methacton), 
to open a new chapel, which, says Pilmoor, " was built by a 
few persons who love the Redeemer." Among these was Mr. 
Supplee, who became a friend of Pilmoor and whose house 
was his retreat at a time when, during convalescence from a 
serious sickness, he sought retirement in the country. This 
chapel at Methacton was the second Methodist Church in 
Pennsylvania. On the occasion of its dedication, October 13, 
1770, Pilmoor preached at three o'clock in the afternoon, on 
2 Kings viii. 17. " Mr. Evans," he says, " gave an excellent 
exhortation, and I concluded with solemn prayer. In the 
evening we had a love-feast, and the simple-hearted lovers of 
Jesus spoke with much spirit and life." 

In his " Eise of Methodism in America," Lednum men- 
tions this chapel, and says : " About the time the Methodists 
bought St. George's, a small stone building was erected in 
Montgomery County, about twenty miles north of Philadel- 
phia, which has since been known by the name of Bethel. 
Mr. Supplee was the chief person concerned in building it. 
At this time he knew but little, if anything, of the Methodists, 
but believed that the Lord would raise up a people in his 
neighborhood to serve him. It was not long before the 
Methodist preachers found out the place, being invited by 
the founder of the house." It is a notable fact that this first 



DEDICATION OF SECOND CHAPEL IN PENNSYLVANIA 231 

chapel of Methodism in Pennsylvania, outside of Philadel- 
phia, and possibly the third in the country, was opened for 
worship by one of the first two missionaries sent hither by 
Mr. Wesley, and that the first Methodist preacher that came 
forth in America assisted him in the service. Lednum says 
that in it " a society was raised up which still continues, and, 
although it has never been large, it always contained a num- 
ber of substantial members." 

The Sunday after the dedication of the chapel at Methac- 
ton, Pilmoor preached at White Marsh, to an assembly so 
large that the Church would not contain a quarter thereof. 
He delivered his discourse standing upon a table in the 
churchyard, and then hastened to Philadelphia, where he 
spoke to a multitude on " Stand in the ways and see and 
inquire after the old paths and walk therein." 

After preaching in the city in the early morning hour of 
Sunday, October 21, 1770, Pilmoor, at eleven o'clock, preached 
at Gloucester, New Jersey. Thus, while the work in the city 
was enough to engross all his time and powers, we find him 
toiling for Christ in various rural places on secular days, and 
also sometimes on Sundays. It has been alleged by Bangs 
and Stevens, and even by Lee, that Boardman and Pilmoor 
confined their ministry almost entirely to the cities. Until 
Francis Asbury came over, the rural communities heard them 
but little, according to these authorities. The present point 
of our narrative is more than a year anterior to Asbury's ar- 
rival, yet we have repeatedly seen Pilmoor almost from the 
time he reached this continent going forth to preach the 
gospel in the country, and it is reasonable to suppose that 
Boardman did likewise. We know that for over two years 
before Asbury appeared on the field Robert Williams literally 
went to and fro about the land from Norfolk to New York, 
and thence to Maryland, back and forth. Notwithstanding 
this, Ledmun says that Williams " hugged New York closely 
for about two years and a half." Webb, too, was an ardent 
and extensive itinerant for about five years previously to 
the arrival of Asbury ; and Strawbridge travelled abroad in 
Maryland, and his evangelical journeyings brought him to 



232 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



Pilmoor's assistance in Philadelphia, as we have seen, nearly 
two years in advance of the appearance of Asbury in that 
metropolis. Jesse Lee says : " Mr. Strawbridge was a use- 
ful man and zealous in the cause of God, and spent much of 
his time in preaching the gospel in different places before 
any regular preachers were sent over by Mr. Wesley to this 
country." There was a decided itinerancy here prior to As- 
bury's coming. We shall now see a new itinerating laborer 
advancing from Philadelphia to give propulsion to the move- 
ment in rural fields more than a year before Asbury came. 

John King, like Robert Williams, appeared in America at 
a time when the need of Wesleyan preachers was urgent, and 
he did such laborious and valuable service as has given un- 
dying celebrity to his name. 

King arrived here in the summer of 1770. He waited on 
Mr. Pilmoor in Philadelphia, and desired to be accepted as a 
preacher. Pilmoor refers to this interesting event in his jour- 
nal, August 18, 1770 : "I met with a particular trial. A young 
man waited on me who said he was just from Europe and had 
been a preacher among the Methodists, but upon examina- 
tion I found he had no letter from Mr. Wesley nor any of the 
senior preachers in England or Ireland. Hence I could not 
receive him as a minister in connection with us, nor suffer 
him to preach among our societies in America. However, as 
he appeared to be a good young man I resolved to deal ten- 
derly with him and treat him with all the kindness in my 
power as a stranger in a distant land and told him I would do 
everything in my power for him, only I could not employ him 
as a preacher. As this did not satisfy him he departed from 
me and was determined to preach whether I approved of it or 
not. So I left him for the present to pursue his own busi- 
ness, and was fully determined to be on my guard against all 
impostors, lest the gospel should suffer by means of false 
teachers." 

Pilmoor did right. As the representative of Mr. Wesley 
who had committed to him a sacred and a weighty trust he 
could not accord ministerial recognition to an unknown man 
without credentials. His bearing towards King illustrated 



JOHN KING PPwEACHING IN POTTER' S FIELD 233 



the wisdom and the gentleness with which he administered 
his charge. King also did right. He longed to utter his 
message to the Americans, and no doubt thought he could 
not afford to lose time in waiting for the recognition which 
he knew he would receive. Therefore he went forth from Mr. 
Pilmoor's presence resolved immediately to enter the Ameri- 
can evangelical field which was white for the harvest. We 
shall now see the sequel. 

A historic day in the Methodism of America was the last 
Sunday of August, 1770, for then occurred an event which 
had an important relation to its progress. On that day in a 
graveyard of the poor in Philadelphia was inaugurated the 
American ministerial career of one of the most notable and 
successful Methodist preachers of the ante -revolutionary 
period. Pilmoor's reference to the event, August 26, 1770, 
is couched in the following words : " Our congregation was 
large in the morning and the power of God was with us of a 
truth while I enlarged on the words, ' Eejoicing in hope, 
patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer.' In the 
evening at six I wondered to find so few people in the Church, 
but I soon found out the cause of it. Mr. John King, the 
young man who was with me a few days ago wanting to be 
employed as a preacher, had published himself and was 
preaching in the Potters Field to a great multitude of people. 
When he had done they hastened away to the Church which 
was soon crowded, and God enabled me to speak with much 
power. The word was made more awful by a most dreadful 
thunder gust which came on while I was preaching, and con- 
tinued all the time. The Great Jehovah uttered his voice, 
his lightnings went forth in sheets of flame and all the 
heavens seemed to be on fire." 

A young Methodist evangelist who notwithstanding his 
failure to obtain recognition as a preacher had the courage 
and skill to gather and hold a crowd of hearers in a pauper 
graveyard, could not fail to become recognized as a fellow 
laborer of the Wesleyan missionaries " in the Kingdom and 
patience of Jesus ; " nor to prove of real value to the new 
movement which required heroic leaders. 



234 THE WESLEY AX MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

In only five da3^s after his sermon in Potter's Field, John 
King stood in St. George's pulpit. With reference to that 
occasion Pilmoor says : " The Intercession on Friday [August 
31, 1770] was a time of love and refreshing from the presence 
of God. In the evening Mr. John King preached his proba- 
tionary sermon. Having conversed much with him since his 
arrival in the city, and found him to be a zealous, good man, 
I thought it would be well to try him. So I appointed him 
to preach before me and the leaders in the Church, and al- 
though he is by no means fit for the city, he is well qualified 
to do good in the country. As he earnestly requested it, I 
gave him a license to preach and recommended him to several 
gentlemen in the country in hope of advancing the Kingdom 
of God." 

King was soon fully vindicated, not only by his fidelity 
and usefulness, but also by the Minutes of the British Con- 
ference which in this same year (1770) in the list of assign- 
ments of the preachers contained the following appointments : 
" America, Joseph Pilmoor, Richard Boardman, Robert Will- 
iams, John King." This seems to show that while King was 
without written credentials, Mr. Wesley approved of his com- 
ing to America and authorized him to labor here. The Con- 
ference at which the above appointments were published was 
held in London the same month that King presented himself 
to Pilmoor in Philadelphia. 

Dr. Stevens' error in his " History of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church," respecting the time of King's first appearance 
in America is thus corrected by Pilmoor. Stevens says King 
arrived here "some weeks" after Boardman and Pilmoor, "in 
the latter part of 1769." It is evident now that he did not 
arrive until nine months or over after the arrival of the first 
two missionaries — that is to say late in the summer of 1770. 

King's ministry was effective and fruitful. The rural field 
to which Pilmoor sent him from Philadelphia was in Dela- 
ware. Jesse Lee asserts that the point to which King went 
with his license from Pilmoor was Wilmington, to " exhort 
among a few people who w r ere earnestly seeking the Lord." 
We shall see that King was immediately useful there, and 



JOHN KING'S LABORS AND USEFULNESS 235 



that Pilmoor met him in or near Wilmington in the spring 
of 1771. 

King promoted the progress of the Wesleyan cause when 
in the entire country there were but seven Methodist preach- 
ers, itinerant and local, himself included. He early labored 
in Maryland and still further Southward and signally aided 
the work in those sections. Jesse Lee in his " History of the 
Methodists " says : "In the beginning of 1774, John King 
came first to the South parts of Virginia where his labors 
were made a blessing to many people. He was a sensible, 
zealous preacher, and very useful while he continued to 
travel." 

In the Methodist historical works but scant recitals of the 
events in King's career have been given. In a comparatively 
recent work by the Rev. M. H. Moore, namely: " The Pio- 
neers of Methodism in North Carolina and Virginia, " several 
new dates and facts concerning King's history are set forth 
which were derived from family records. According to this 
authority, John King was born in Leicestershire, England, in 
the year 1746. He heard Wesley preach and became both 
a Christian and a Methodist. He was disinherited by his 
father because of his Methodism. Moore also says that King 
was a graduate of Oxford University and of a London Medi- 
cal College. Pilmoor, however, seems rather to discredit 
King's alleged Oxonian training by his statement after hear- 
ing his trial sermon that he was "by no means fit for the 
city." Still Pilmoor afterward testified that King "turned 
out wonderfully well and became an able minister of Jesus 
Christ." In less than seven months after Pilmoor licensed 
him King preached in Philadelphia again, and then Pilmoor 
said of him : " How wonderfully improved since his arrival in 
America. He is now likely to be an able minister of the 
gospel, and will I trust be a blessing to mankind." 

It has been asserted that King was the first Methodist 
that preached in Baltimore. This is a doubtful tradition. 
Robert Williams went to Maryland nearly ten months before 
King was licensed by Pilmoor, and there is no evidence that 
King reached Maryland before April, 1771, almost a year 



236 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



and a half after Williams went there. Williams had lifted 
up his voice for the truth in Norfolk, and New York, and 
Philadelphia, and in beginning his proclamation of the gos- 
pel in Maryland, it seems probable that he sought its chief 
city as a promising field for the good seed he was sowing. As 
we have seen, Dr. Dallam says Williams was the first Meth- 
odist preacher who entered Harford County, which was then 
included in the county of Baltimore ; and he asserts that 
Williams went thither from the city of Baltimore. This 
probably was prior to King's appearance in Maryland. 

There is a well-attested tradition, that King once preached 
in St. Paul's church in Baltimore. " One who was present," 
says the Rev. Dr. William Hamilton, " and from whom we 
received the information many years ago, said ' that Mr. 
King made the dust fly from the velvet cushion.'" The 
zealous Wesleyan herald did not, however, have a second 
privilege of proclaiming his message from that pulpit. 

Moore informs us that King married Miss Seawell, of 
Brunswick County, Yirginia, in the Conference year of 1774. 
His name is not found in the Minutes after 1777. He lived 
in North Carolina, practised medicine, and labored in the 
gospel in a local capacity. Bishop Asbury frequently men- 
tions him in his Journal, " and there is abundant evidence," 
says Moore, " that he continued to the end an earnest, fear- 
less, faithful preacher of the gospel." We learn from the 
same authority that King was present at the first Methodist 
Conference in North Carolina, at the home of Green Hill, 
April 20, 1785. There is a family tradition that as King 
entered the conference room, Dr. Coke, without a word of 
salutation, asked him to pray. Laying his saddle-bags 
aside, he offered the first prayer ever made in a conference 
in North Carolina.* 

King died while visiting New Berne, in 1794, and his 
grave is in Wake County, North Carolina. Stevens says 
his death occurred a few years before 1855. Moore thinks it 
strange that such an error should have occurred, especially 

* The Pioneers of Methodism in North Carolina and Virginia, by the Rev. M. 
H. Moore, 1884. 



COMPLETION OF THE TITLE TO ST. GEORGE'S 237 

as Bishop Asbury speaks of the marriage of King's widow to 
a Mr. Perry. Probably the error resulted from confounding 
the father with the son, as their names were identical. Moore 
says that all of King's children became members of the 
Church of their father, and that two of his sons, John 
and William, became Methodist preachers. Bishop McTyeire, 
in his " History of Methodism," says, " the descendants of 
King are worthily represented in the Methodist ministry of 
Kentucky and Tennessee to this day." As one of the earliest 
and valiant leaders and heroes of the American Wesleyan 
movement John King will ever be illustrious. 

The title to St. George's Avas not completed until nearly 
ten months after the Philadelphia Methodists occupied it. 
The church was sold at auction pursuant to an Act of the 
Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1769, and on June 
12, 1770, it was deeded to William Branson Hockley. Two 
days later Mr. Hockley legally conveyed it to Miles Pen- 
nington, a tallow-chandler and a Methodist." Pennington 
evidently received it in trust for the society. He transferred 
it by deed, September 11, 1770, to Kichard Boardman, Jo- 
seph Pilmoor, Thomas W^ebb, Edward Evans, Daniel Mont- 
gomery, John Dowers, Edmund Beach, Kobert Fitzgerald, and 
James Emerson, for the sum of six hundred and fifty pounds. 
The process by which the property was secured to the Meth- 
odists forever, Pilmoor thus describes : " I sent for the per- 
sons concerned and set about settling the church. I was 
rather afraid the person with whom we had intrusted it would 
give us much trouble, but God overruled all things for our 
good, and he quietly signed the writings, and all things were 
amicably settled. So the Methodist church in Philadelphia is 
as secure for our preachers as the chapels in London or York." 

The interest became such that the multitude of attend- 
ants at St. George's swelled beyond the limit of its walls. 
On Sunday morning, October 7, 1770, Kobert Williams 
gave them a sermon and in the afternoon Pilmoor preached 
at the end of the Market-house. "At night," writes Pil- 
moor, "many were obliged to go away for want of room in 

* See Lednum's History of Methodism, p. 45. 



238 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



the church. God gave me great freedom and boldness to 
declare his own counsel to the people, and his word went 
from heart to heart. This has been a precious day indeed. 
My soul has walked with God and greatly rejoiced in the 
light of his countenance. O, to grace, how great a debtor. 
Hallelujah ! " The next day many spoke with the preacher 
" about the state of their souls." 

The greatest Gospel-orator of the eighteenth century had 
now finished his herculean and apostolic labors. The elo- 
quent tongue of the seraphic Whitefield was still. Concern- 
ing this mournful event, Pilmoor, on October 9th, wrote in 
his Journal : "I received the melancholy news of the death 
of the Eev. Mr. George Whitefield. Of all the pious and use- 
ful ministers that ever visited America, he was by far the 
most useful. There are many thousands of souls that have 
been deeply affected and savingly wrought upon under his 
ministry, and will undoubtedly be a crown of rejoicing to him 
in the day of the Lord. How mysterious are the ways of 
Providence ! This man of God was suddenly snatched away, 
while carnal ministers and the enemies of religion live to be 
full of days. It is well that the Church does not stand on 
man, but on the rock of eternity, which can never fall." 

Knowing and loving Whitefield, as he did, Pilmoor was 
sorrowfully affected by his sudden death. Only three months 
prior to its occurrence he and Whitefield were in affectionate 
personal intercouse in New York. With quickened zeal, no 
doubt, Pilmoor continued his activity in the vineyard from 
which his great fellow-laborer had suddenly departed to the 
heavens. The day after the mournful tidings reached him 
— October 10, 1770 — Pilmoor had many to speak with him 
" about their salvation and the interests of the Redeemer's 
Kingdom." He also had much conversation with a clergyman 
who, he says, " asked me ' why I did not go into orders.' I 
told him I had long been in orders. £ I mean human orders.' " 
Pilmoor answered, " But suppose I am satisfied with Divine ? " 

In the course of his ministry, Pilmoor was brought into 
contact with a diversity of persons. October 11, 1770, after 
preaching in the evening, "a young gentleman from Prince- 



PILMOOR OFFERED ORDINATION AND A CHURCH 239 



ton College," he says, "waited on me at my lodgings, with 
whom I spent a comfortable hour in conversation about the 
truths of the Gospel and the power of godliness. Who can 
tell but that dear disciple of Jesus may be an instrument of 
turning many to righteousness." 

Nine days after this interview, Pilmoor had a tempting- 
offer of a "living." He had the pleasure of dining at Mr. 
Koberdaw's, he says, where " I met with Mr. Turbul, a gentle- 
man from Tartola, in the West Indies. He offered me a liv- 
ing of four hundred pounds a year, and would "have taken me 
over to England, got me ordained, and put me in possession 
of the church. I told him I had no objection to ordination, 
but that I could not consent to settle in one congregation for 
life, as I believed I might do more good in the itinerant way." 
Yet he found the " itinerant way " laborious and exhausting, 
while his pecuniary recompense was very small. But a few 
days before this offer came to him he wrote : "I found my- 
self very unwell. My breast and lungs were quite sore with 
so much preaching, and my constitution was much shaken. 
The congregations are so large that I exert myself above my 
strength to make them hear and do them good, and I bless 
the Lord my labor is not in vain." He declined the offer of a 
large salary and lighter labor that he might prosecute his ar- 
duous itinerant mission. His heart was fully devoted to this 
service. In the days following his interview with the gentle- 
man who invited him to the Church in Tartola, he " was con- 
stantly engaged speaking with people about their souls, 
preaching, and meeting the classes, and found," he says, " my 
heart in the work. When this is the case it is easy and pleas- 
ant, but if it were not so it would be mere drudgery." 

" His heart was in his work, and the heart 
Giveth grace unto every art." 

The power of the early Methodist preachers was largely 
heart-power. 

Captain Webb was again in Philadelphia on Sunday, 
October 28, 1770. " I was glad of his assistance in the morn- 
ing," Pilmoor says, " and his ministry was blest to the souls 



240 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



of the people. At ten o'clock we went to Christ's Church to 
hear a young man just arrived from London. I fear such 
lifelesss discourses will do but little execution. Not the say- 
ings of Plato, but the love of God in the heart will promote 
true benevolence to mankind. At six in the evening our 
church was abundantly crowded with attentive hearers, and 
the Lord gave me power to preach free salvation now obtain- 
able by faith. The following day I was employed in regu- 
lating the society and preparing for our quarterly exchange." 

The last day of his second period of service in Phila- 
delphia was November 4, 1770, when after the morning ser- 
vice he "preached to a great number of distressed fellow- 
creatures " in the poor-house on the impotent man at the 
pool. At night he delivered his farewell sermon to a crowd- 
ed assembly. Pilmoor was reluctant at this time to say fare- 
well to his congregation in Philadelphia. " When God is 
pleased to make me useful in any place," he says, " I should 
be glad to continue, but the connection to which I belong 
does not admit of it, and, therefore, I must for the present 
submit. Perhaps a time may come when I shall be more at 
liberty to follow the convictions of my own conscience, and 
to walk according to my judgment in the exercise of my min- 
istry." 

The following day, November 5th, he went with his friend 
Harris to Pennypack, where he preached. Then he pro- 
ceeded to Burlington, N. J., and preached to a numerous 
congregation in that town in the evening. There he met 
a Quaker with whom he took sweet counsel — " a man " he 
says, "of excellent understanding, and yet, like Nathaniel, 
without guile. My heart is so knit to this blessed man 
of God that I find it a trial to part." Pilmoor made 
an appointment to preach at Birdington [Bordentown], 
but as it was court-day the people could not give him a 
general hearing. He, however, gave an exhortation to a small 
congregation, and pushed on to Trenton, where " he had been 
desired to preach." Then he went to Princeton, and was 
glad to meet Mr. Boardman there with two friends from New 
York. Boardman preached in the chapel of the college " to 



31ETH0DISM RECOGNIZED AT PRINCETON COLLEGE 241 

a few students and some of the principal inhabitants of the 
town." Thus the Wesley an Cause received recognition as 
early as the fall of 1770, in the chief literary centre of Ameri- 
can Presbyterianism. After the sermon in the chapel the 
two Methodist preachers inspected the college, which, says 
Pilmoor, "is a large and elegant building, and one of the 
finest situations in America." 

Pilmoor reached Paulus Hook, now Jersey City, on 
Thursday evening, November 8, 1770, having spent four days 
in the journey from Philadelphia. "As it was too late to 
take the boat," he says, " we concluded to leave the horse and 
chaise all night, and passed over on the small boat. My 
soul was exceedingly happy on my arrival once more in New 
York." 



CHAPTEK X. 



LABORS OF PILMOOR, WEBB, AND BOARDMAN IN NEW YORK, AND 
THE RESULTING REVIVAL IN 1770-1771. 

Pilmoor entered immediately upon his work, to which he 
was heartily welcomed by the Methodists of New York. He 
well improved the first Sunday of his second term in that 
metropolis, which was November 11, 1770. Of this Sabbath 
he thus speaks : " We had a glorious shower of heart-reviving 
grace in the morning. God graciously comforted me again 
at the Sacrament. At two o'clock I had the happiness of 
hearing Dr. Witherspoon, of Princeton College. He is a 
gentleman of superior sense, and preaches with remarkable 
accuracy, but not with so much divine energy as might be 
expected. Our chapel was sufficiently crowded in the even- 
ing while I opened and applied ' Ye must be born again.' " 

Pilmoor's reference to Dr. Witherspoon recalls the ser- 
vices of one of the great leaders in the cause of American In- 
dependence. In 1776 Dr. Witherspoon was a member of the 
Constitutional Convention of New Jersey, and for six years 
sat in clerical dress in the Continental Congress. He was an 
advocate, and one of the signers, of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. He also advocated the Articles of Confederation. 
He was President and Professor of Divinity of Princeton 
College from 1768 to 1794, and as one of the fathers of the 
American Republic his name is immortal. 

Pilmoor now steadily labored amid encouraging signs of 
progress. The members of the society were " pretty lively," 
and God, he says, "has carried on his work by the ministry 
of Mr. Boardman." Pilmoor planned a series of discourses, 
of which, on November 21, 1770, he wrote: "Being fully 
convinced of the vast importance of the Holy Scriptures, and 



A REVIVAL IN NEW YORK CITY IN 1770 2 43 



how necessary it is to the people to understand them in order 
to their present and future happiness, I began to expound 
the first Epistle of St. John. The novelty of the thing 
brought out a great multitude to the chapel, and it was a 
profitable season. This encourages me to go on, and I shall, 
if God permit, continue it every Wednesday evening while I 
stay in New York." 

The last day of November he had a very large congrega- 
tion, " many of whom," he says, " have lately been brought 
under deep concern of mind." Captain Webb again appeared 
on the scene of warfare in New York, and on December 
4th he preached "on our Lord's charge to the Angel of 
the Church at Ephesus." The Captain's words, says Pil- 
moor, " were greatly blessed to the hearers." Of the next 
day Pilmoor writes : "We had a fine congregation at the 
lecture, and God gave me to speak with power and authority 
on the words : ' He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' After the wor- 
ship was over a woman who fell down in the chapel while I 
was speaking, came into our house and told us, with her eyes 
flowing with tears of joy, that she had found the Lord." Of 
the last two days of this first week of December, 1770, he 
says : " Had a precious time at the Intercession, and likewise 
in the evening, while I discoursed on, ' Surely shall one say, in 
the Lord have I righteousness and strength.' Saturday, hav- 
ing a favorable opportunity, I was glad to send, as a token 
of love, some of our American fruit to the Kev. John Wesley, 
in London." 

Sunday, December 9th, at six in the evening, Pilmoor 
preached an hour and twenty minutes on the Prodigal Son. 
The length of the discourse was due to his being "so drawn 
out with love to souls." The next morning he spent in his 
study, and had several persons speak with him about their 
souls, some of whom he " admitted into society. God is emi- 
nently present with us," he says, "is carrying on his work 
in a wonderful manner." On Sunday, December 23d, Pilmoor 
exclaimed : " The work of God still goes on. More have 

lately been awakened and some brought to the knowledge of 
17 



244 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 

God their Saviour." In the morning of Christmas-day Cap- 
tain Webb preached, and in the evening, Pilmoor. "At both 
meetings the Lord gave his blessing." The following day 
Pilmoor "Preached morning and evening to fine congrega- 
tions of the most attentive hearers I ever beheld, and I had 
the particular satisfaction of returning thanks to God for two 
poor sinners, who have lately passed from death unto life." 

The last Sunday of 1770 Pilmoor describes as " one of 
the days of the Son of Man." He adds, " my soul exulted in 
God's Salvation. I preached in the evening on, ' My Grace 
is sufficient for thee.' The congregation was wonderfully 
large and attentive ; the glory of God filled the Church, and 
greatly comforted the people. Three precious souls were 
clearly justified under the sermon, and many believers made 
joyful in the Lord." 

The last night of the year 1770 the New York Wesley ans 
had a watch-meeting which had been threatened by opposers 
who were made afraid by " the terrors of the Lord." The 
meeting continued until after midnight, the people witnessing 
the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one. 
Reviewing the departed year Pilmoor exultingly said : " This 
has been the best year of my life. God has wonderfully 
owned and blessed me in the work of the ministry, so that I 
have been made the highly favored instrument of turning 
many from darkness to light." At the watch meeting an ad- 
versary was vanquished. Not long after the watch night he 
called upon the preacher and desired admission into the so- 
ciety. "I find," says Pilmoor, "that he has been a great 
persecutor of his wife, and wanted much to hinder her from 
coming to the watch meeting on New Year's eve. But she at 
length prevailed upon him to go with her, and there God so 
touched his heart that he is now more zealous than she. 
Thus the Lord is pleased to display his victorious grace and 
wonderfully subdue the hearts of sinners." 

At his weekly lecture on the first Epistle of St. John, the 
second day of the year 1771, Pilmoor says he " took some 
pains to show how groundless is that charge so often made 
that the Methodists were false prophets. How wonderful 



PILMOOK HOLDS MEETINGS FOR YOUNG MEN 245 



it is," he adds, " that men should charge a people with this 
who have the least appearance of it of any set of people on 
earth." 

There is no more interesting class in any community than 
its young men. They are to become the leaders of civil, so- 
cial, commercial, and political movements ; the creators and 
executors of laws ; the founders of families and fortunes ; the 
guardians of education and morals ; the pillars of the Church 
and the State. Joseph Pilmoor not only gave special care to 
the children, as we have seen, but he also ministered specially 
to young men. Respecting this feature of his work in New 
York he, on Saturday, January 5, 1771, wrote : " Having for 
some time observed a great number of young men attend the 
preaching, and very few of them in the society, I proposed a 
meeting for them alone in our own house, and this evening I 
had a fine company of them." A week later he said : " All our 
meetings are favored with the presence and blessing of Is- 
rael's Shepherd, but that on Saturday evening crowns all the 
rest. The young people who attend are all on fire for God 
and Heaven." Again, in the same month he says : " On Sat- 
urday evening I met the young men as usual. Many of them 
were so affected that the room was filled with their groans 
and crying after the dear Immanuel." Of Saturday, January 
19, 1771, he writes that, "after spending some hours in visit- 
ing the members of the society I had a most comfortable 
time with my class of young people in my own room." Still 
later, he speaks of an elderly gentleman who was at the meet- 
ing of the young men, and who wept as he declared that he 
would not have missed it for fifty pounds. 

Constantly, on Saturday nights Pilmoor met the young 
men, until he left New York at the end of this term, in Feb- 
ruary, 1771. On the second of that month he said : " The 
young men met in the evening and we had our usual blessing. 
At present they bid fair for the Kingdom of God, and are 
likely to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ." The next Satur- 
day night he was with them again and says: ' 'At seven 
o'clock I was glad to meet the young men once more, and God 
gave us a special blessing. My heart is so knit to these 



246 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



young men that I find it exceedingly difficult to part with 
them." 

The last weeks of his second term in New York Pilmoor 
saw glorious times. The first Sunday night of 1771, the word 
of the Lord was quick and powerful, he says : " while I called 
upon sinners to turn unto the Lord, who has promised to 
have mercy upon them, and He gave us proof of it that night 
by receiving some poor sinners into His favor and family." 

The following day the preacher enjoyed much-needed 
rest, having become " greatly exhausted with such abundant 
labor." The next Sunday he had a cheering smile from 
Heaven amidst his labors, and also " heard a useful sermon 
at church, and an excellent gospel sermon at the Moravian 
Chapel. Sects and parties are nothing to me," he exclaims, 
' ' as I heartily love all the lovers of Jesus. At six our own 
chapel was as full as it could hold, and the blessing of God 
was upon the congregation while I preached on the Importu- 
nate Widow. My whole soul has been this day on the 
stretch for closer communion with God. I can hardly bear 
the thought that precious souls should be lost." 

The next day he " spent some time in visiting from house 
to house." He was taken to see a person who believed her- 
self to be possessed of the devil. He spoke with her as com- 
fortingly as he could, and had much liberty of spirit in praying 
for her. " After preaching on Tuesday night," says Pilmoor, 
" a few of us met together to wrestle with God for her deliv- 
erance, and found Him eminently present with us." The fol- 
lowing day he set "apart some hours for visiting the people," 
and was " abundantly watered while watering others." In the 
evening he gave another lecture on the Epistle, and " was 
greatly comforted in speaking on ' When He shall appear we 
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.' " 

The ardent evangelist continued to care for the oppressed 
and the lowly, and he came in close touch with the poor. 
The last Sunday in January, 1771, after preaching, he " met 
the negroes apart, and found many of them very happy. God 
has wrought a great work," he declares, " on many of their 
souls." Less than a fortnight afterward "I had," says Pil- 



PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL IN NEW YORK 247 

moor, " a number of the people from the poor-house to sup 
with me, and found more satisfaction in their conversation 
than in that of the most refined and polite citizens who are 
strangers to God." 

He began a visitation of the classes on January 28, 1771, 
and found their condition such that he declared that, "the 
Methodists in New York are not one whit behind their 
brethren in Europe, but in many respects before them." At 
about this time the society enjoyed a love feast, and " it was 
indeed a time of love. Many of the new members as well as 
the old bore a noble testimony for the Lord. While they 
were speaking of the goodness of God, His glorious presence 
seemed to fill the place and made it like the gate of Heaven." 

Pilmoor's energies and time were fully absorbed with the 
revival in New York which accompanied the second term of 
his ministry there. Of this engrossment he, on February 2, 
1771, thus speaks : " This day I had a little time for reading 
and meditation which was very agreeable, as I have had but 
little opportunity for study since the Lord began to revive 
his work among us. Yet I was never at a loss, for it was 
given me in that hour what I should say." 

The first Sunday in February, 1771, was notable. The 
morning and evening meetings in John Street were of signal 
interest. " The people were much broken down " under the 
preaching ; and the following day Pilmoor " was constantly 
engaged with people who were under deep impressions and 
strong conviction." Pilmoor remarks : " The word that is 
preached is like a sword that pierces into the very soul. This, 
I clearly see, is owing to the energy of the Spirit who is 
pleased out of weakness to ordain strength." 

Captain "Webb is now again in New York, and on Feb- 
ruary 6th, Pilmoor spent the morning with the brave soldier 
and some friends. A godly Baptist minister visited Pilmoor 
three days later, and gave him a particular account of the 
work of God in Virginia. " It seems," Pilmoor writes, "the 
Lord is working by them (the Baptists) in just the same 
manner as he has done by the Methodists. Vast multitudes 
are awakened by the preaching of the gospel, and more than 



248 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



two thousand have lately made profession of faith and been 
baptized." This remarkable revival, the tidings of which 
Pilmoor received in New York while he was witnessing similar 
demonstrations of grace there, probably was in connection 
with the extraordinary evangelical awakening which began some 
time before this point of our narrative, and was then in prog- 
ress, under the labors of the Rev. Devereux Jarratt, the very 
zealous and laborious rector of Bath Parish, in Dinwiddie 
County, Ya., and another clergyman of a neighboring parish, 
the Rev. Archibald McRoberts. Those two clergymen, in 
that dark day in Yirginia, labored in unity to spread evan- 
gelical doctrines and to save men ; and they were instrumental 
in kindling a flame of revival which spread abroad and was 
seen afar. The Baptists contributed no doubt to the promo- 
tion of the great work. Indeed, Jarratt says : " Harmony, 
love, and concord subsisted for many years among my hearers, 
though not without some interruption. This small interrup- 
tion was occasioned by the Baptists who, about the year 1769 
or 1770, or it may be a little sooner, had begun to make 
proselytes in Amelia and some other adjacent counties. These, 
by their assiduity and continual inculcation of adult baptism, 
had shaken the faith of some and gained them over to their 
party." * 

While Pilmoor was yet zealously toiling in the revival in 
New York, Boardm an arrived there, and on the last Sunday in 
February, 1771, both preachers were in John Street, Boardman 
preaching in the morning. In the evening, says Pilmoor, " I 
took leave of my dear New Yorkers, and the power of God 
was with us of a truth." 

The revival in New York City from which Pilmoor now 
reluctantly broke away to Philadelphia, continued under the 
ministry of Richard Boardman. Under date of April 23, 
1771, Boardman made a report to Mr. Wesley of the progress 
of this glorious work in New York. His report is very inter- 
esting as a sequel to what we have witnessed already under 
Pilmoor 's devoted labors. Boardman says : "It pleases God 
to carry on his work among us. Within this month we have 

* Life of Jarratt, written by himself, pp. 105-6, Baltimore, 1806. 



PROGRESS OF THE REVIVAL UNDER BOARDilAN 249 



had a great awakening here. Many begin to believe the report, 
and to some the arm of the Lord is revealed. This last month 
we had near thirty added to the society, five of whom have 
received a clear sense of the pardoning love of God. We 
have in this city some of the best preachers both in the 
English and Dutch Churches that are in America, yet God 
works by whom he will work. 

" I have lately been much comforted by the death of some 
poor negroes who have gone off the stage of time rejoicing in 
the God of their salvation. I asked one at the point of death, 
* Are you afraid to die ? ' ' O no,' said she, ' I have my blessed 
Saviour in my heart. I should be glad to die. I want to be 
gone, that I may be with Him forever. I know that He loves 
me, and I love Him with all my heart.' She continued to 
declare the great things God had done for her soul, to the 
astonishment of many, till the Lord took her to Himself. 
Several more seem just ready to be gone, longing for the 
time when mortality shall be swallowed up of life. 

"I bless God I find in general my soul happy, though 
much tried and tempted, and though I am often made to 
groan, oppressed with unbelief. Yet I find an increasing de- 
gree of love to God, His people and His ways. But I want 
more purity of intention to aim at His glory in all I think, 
speak, or do. Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief. 

" We do not, dear sir, forget to pray for you that God 
would lengthen out your days ; nor can we help praying that 
you may see America before you die. Perhaps I have prom- 
ised myself too much when I have thought of this. Lord, 
not my will but thine be done." 



CHAPTEE XI. 



THE WORK UNDER PILMOOR, BOARDMAN, WEBB, EVANS, KING, 
AND WILLIAMS IN THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1771. 

After three months and three days of service in New 
York Pilmoor left that town February 11, 1771, for a winter 
exchange. He and Boardman did not go into "winter quar- 
ters," but braved the ice and cold of the winter of 1770-71, 
and also of the winter of the following year in alternating 
between the cities. Many persons came to take leave of 
Pilmoor, and about ten o'clock he set off for Philadelphia. 
With some difficulty he crossed the Hudson, which was ob- 
structed by vast quantities of floating ice. He reached 
Elizabeth, N. J., about five o'clock, where he preached to 
a fine congregation in the Court-house on " Blessed are 
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they 
shall be filled." Many gentlemen followed him to the inn 
and hospitably invited him to their homes. The next morn- 
ing a gentleman sent a carriage for him and kindly entertained 
him at breakfast. He went to Woodbridge, where he called 
at a friend's house, and his visit proved a blessing to the 
family. Coming to New Brunswick he found the Karitan 
River impassable because of the ice and the high winds, so he 
took refuge for the night in an old house, where he was 
"ready to perish with the cold." The next day, as he could 
not cross the river, he drove to a bridge about eight miles dis- 
tant ; but found " such quantities of ice that he was obliged 
to drive across fields" to avoid it. "After much toil and 
fatigue," he says, " we came to a small town [Millstone] in 
Somerset County, where we were obliged to stay all night. I 
sent word through the town that I would preach in the Court- 
house. Many presently gathered, and I preached on ' Christ 



PILMOOR'S HAED WINTER JOURNEY IN NEW JERSEY 251 

in you the hope of Glory.' When I had clone many fol- 
lowed me to the inn, and seemed as if they wanted to hear 
more ; so we joined in praise and prayer and they departed. 
It is probable I should never have seen these people if the 
storm had not driven us out of the way." 

Early the next morning, February 14, 1771, Pilmoor 
started for Trenton, travelling with a degree of difficulty 
through the woods. Hindered at the ferry from crossing, he 
proceeded to Birdington [Bordentown] , where he meant to 
preach, but his purpose was thwarted by his delay. " How- 
ever," he says, " I got the family together at the inn, where 
there happened to be much company, who all came in. I 
gave them an exhortation." The next day many people 
gathered at the public house where he stopped, and begged 
him to give them a sermon. This he did gladly, " and pub- 
lished a free salvation to sinners." He then went to Burling- 
ton and preached in the afternoon. At the urgent desire of 
the people, he gave another sermon there in the evening to 
" a crowded audience of genteel and attentive hearers. God 
was present in the midst." 

The next day (Saturday) he resumed his trying journey. 
" When we got to Cooper's Ferry," he says, " we were told 
that we could not possibly get over with the horses ; so we 
concluded to leave them behind, and ventured in a small 
boat ourselves. The prodigious mountains of ice that were 
floating in the river made a most dreadful appearance, and 
threatened us with imminent danger. However, in about an 
hour we got safely over, and met our dear Philadelphia 
friends in peace." 

From Monday until Saturday the courageous preacher 
journeyed across New Jersey on his way to the Quaker City. 
After this winter itinerary he wrote : " This has been the most 
dangerous, fatiguing, and disagreeable journey I ever under- 
took, and there was no necessity for it at present, only Mr. 
Boardman would come to New York, and I could not think of 
leaving Philadelphia without a preacher." This journey was 
accomplished more than two-thirds of a year prior to the ar- 
rival of Francis Asbury in America. Before Asbury joined 



252 THE WESLETAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

them, Boardman and Pilraoor, not to speak of Webb, Will- 
iams, and King, maintained heroically the Wesleyan itiner- 
ancy in this land, " in journey ings often, in perils of waters, 
in perils in the wilderness, in weariness and painfulness, in 
cold." 

Pilmoor began his mission anew in Philadelphia Sunday, 
February 17, 1771. He found a few people in the church in the 
morning ; at night the attendance was a little larger, but he 
exclaimed, " O, how different from New York." The next day 
the congregation, he says, " was pretty good. I was enabled 
to speak with a measure of power, and the Word seemed to 
make its way to the hearts of the people." The severity of 
the winter in 1771 is indicated not only by Pilmoor's trying 
journey from New York, but also by his description of the 
weather in the week following his arrival in Philadelphia, the 
greater part of which, he says, "was the coldest I ever re- 
member. One day I was fetched out to visit a poor woman 
who was dying, and I was in danger of having the skin 
frozen off my face. This made it dangerous for the people 
to venture out, so that we have had but very few to hear the 
Word." 

The departure of Mr. Whitefield again engaged the 
thoughts of our busy and heroic preacher. On March 5, 
1771, he wrote : " This day I received a letter from London, 
informing me that Mr. Wesley preached a funeral sermon on 
that great man of God, Mr. Whitefield. What a pity Mr. 
Wesley and he were ever divided ! However, differences in 
opinion did not separate them in affection, for they loved as 
brethren, and will undoubtedly rejoice together in the King- 
dom of God." 

Pilmoor did not find the work in Philadelphia in such a 
lively condition as he had left it in New York. He says 
March 6, 1771 : " Since my return to this city I have been 
much distressed on account of the general deadness that 
prevails among the people, and have entreated the Metho- 
dists to betake themselves to prayer and supplication to God 
for a revival of the work." The ensuing month he wrote : 
" The work of God begins to revive a little, but it is nothing 



FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS WAS BY DUCHE 253 



like it was the latter end of last summer, and far short of 
what I saw in New York the beginning of winter. The con- 
gregations are middling, but I hear of very few either con- 
vinced or converted." 

Pilmoor's weakened physical condition probably contrib- 
uted to the continuance of the depression of the work at this 
time in Philadelphia. Since his arrival in America he had 
incessantly labored in all seasons without vacations. In the 
preceding autumn and winter especially, he had given him- 
self unsparingly to soul-saving toil in New York. His jour- 
ney thence consumed six days, including the time he spent 
in preaching and visiting during it, in an inclement American 
winter, with travel made difficult and even dangerous by ice 
and cold. The physical enervation thus resulting undoubt- 
edly diminished the effectiveness of his ministry in this term 
in Philadelphia. The first of May, " when I went to church 
to meet the society," he says, " I was so weak that I could 
scarcely stand till I had done. My constitution has suffered 
exceedingly since my arrival in this country, yet I do not re- 
pent. The Americans are so dear to me that I could freely 
spend all my strength, and even life itself, to do them good." 
When he recovered his strength somewhat he began the visi- 
tation of the classes, and found the members in a better spir- 
itual state than he expected. " Though we have had but few 
awakened or converted that I have heard of," he says, " there 
is much cause of thankfulness that believers have been 
greatly strengthened and built up in the Lord." 

Among the ministers in Philadelphia at this time was the 
Eev. Jacob Duche, rector of Christ Episcopal Church, who 
in the outbreak of the Kevolution was conspicuous as a 
patriot. On July 7, 1775, he preached a sermon in Christ 
Church before the First Battalion of the City and Liberties 
of Philadelphia on " The Duty of Standing fast in our Spir- 
itual and Temporal Liberties." By their request the sermon 
was published. It was reprinted the same year in London, 
and announced there with other works which supported the 
Colonies in their great struggle. Duche also in 1774 offered 
the first prayer ever uttered in the American Congress. In a 



254 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



letter to a friend John Adams thus wrote of that prayer : " I 
must confess I never heard a better prayer pronounced. 
Episcopalian as he is, Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with 
such fervor and ardor, such correctness and pathos, and in 
language so eloquent and sublime for America, for Congress, 
for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, especially the town 
of Boston. It had an excellent effect upon everybody. It 
was enough indeed to melt a heart of stone, and I saw the 
tears gush in the eyes of the old, grave Quakers of Philadel- 
phia." 

Three years before Mr. Duche offered this historic prayer 
Pilmoor heard him preach. Sunday, March 17, 1771, Pil- 
moor wrote: "After hearing that dear man of God, Mr. 
Evans, in the morning, I went to hear the Eev. Mr. Duche, 
who is one of the best speakers I ever heard, and what is still 
better, a precious child of God and a spiritual minister of 
Jesus. I felt what he said and was closely united with him 
in the love of the Gospel." On another and later occasion 
Pilmoor said : "At Christ Church I was blest under the 
Kev. Mr. Duche." 

Duche was Chaplain to the Colonial Congress for a 
time in 1776 and enjoyed the friendship of Washington. 
When the British occupied Philadelphia he sent a letter to 
General Washington, who was at headquarters in what is now 
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, " urging him to return to 
the bosom of good King George." Washington immediately 
directed the epistle to Congress as " a letter of a very curious 
and extraordinary nature." 

Duche left for a foreign shore, and in a reference to him 
in a private letter, the original of which is yet preserved, 
Bishop Asbury says that Duche was not permitted to re- 
turn from Europe. Asbury also says that but for his espou- 
sal of the Koyal cause in the war of Independence, Duche 
would have become the Bishop of Pennsylvania. Bishop 
White of that State testified that he considered Mr. White- 
field the best reader he had ever heard, and next to him he 
reckoned Duche to be " the best reader of prayers " in the 
circle of his acquaintance. " He was," said Bishoj} White, 



PILMOOR, WILLIAMS, AND KING IN PHILADELPHIA 255 



" perhaps not inferior to Mr. Whitefield in the correctness of 
his pronunciation. His voice was remarkably sweet. Mr. 
Duche was frequently oratorical in his sermons, but never so 
in the reading of the prayers, although always read by him 
with signs of unaffected seriousness and devotion." * 

Pilmoor preached at White Marsh on April 9, 1771, and 
eight days later he went to Wilmington. He at this time 
spent four days travelling and preaching in Delaware. There 
he again met John King, whom he had sent thither more than 
seven months before. On April 21, 1771, he enjoyed the min- 
istry of King in Philadelphia, and remarked that he had 
wonderfully improved as a preacher. Robert Williams, too, 
was now in Philadelphia again, and says Pilmoor : " As I had 
Mr. Williams and Mr. King both in the city, I was glad to 
accept of their assistance, and we all united in striving to- 
gether for the hope of the Gospel. Our meetings generally 
were lively." 

There is ground for the belief that up to this time King 
had not been in Maryland. He went to Delaware in Septem- 
ber, 1770, and on April 18, 1771, Pilmoor met him there, but 
he gives no intimation that King had yet been laboring else- 
where. King probably went to Maryland for the first time 
very soon after his above-mentioned visit to Philadelphia in 
the spring of 1771. 

On one of those April days in 1771, Pilmoor says : " Tues- 
day, as we had no preaching in our own church, I gladly em- 
braced the opportunity of preaching to the poor prisoners in 
the jail, and afterward visited the criminals under sentence of 
death." On Sabbath, April 28th, Pilmoor applied the Gospel to 
what he thought was a moral exigence of his flock. Some of 
the society had fallen into the evil of backbiting and slander, 
so he lectured on the fifteenth Psalm, "and did what I could," 
he says, " to stop the contagion, and crush the evil in the 
bud." He preached the same day at Kensington, and when 
returning to the city he was stopped by a Roman Catholic 
gentleman who desired an interview. "He told me," says 
Pilmoor, "he had been to hear me, and in general liked 

* Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, vol. v., p. 185. 



256 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



my sermon except one thing. In speaking of the knowledge 
of salvation, I happened to mention priestly absolution and 
showed the people the absurdity of it. This it seems nettled 
him, and he said, ' Do you think, sir, that any man can forgive 
sin ? ' 'Indeed, sir, I do not.' ' But has not God given that 
power to the ministers of the Gospel ? ' ' No sir. All the 
power that God has given to them is declarative, that is, they 
are to declare to His people that He will pardon and absolve 
all those that truly repent and unfeignedly believe His holy 
Gospel.' ' And do you think the Church of Rome pretends to 
forgive sins ? ' ' Indeed, sir, she does. Did not Pope Leo X. 
send his Indulgences all over Europe and pretend to pardon 
all sins, past, present, and to come, for one shilling, which was 
the means of stirring Luther and in the end brought on the 
Reformation ? ' He only replied, ' sir, you may take that 
back,' and suddenly withdrew from me." 

The time for the fifth exchange of the two missionaries is 
at hand. On May 10, 1771, Pilmoor preached " on the hill." 
After the service he " was very agreeably surprised to meet 
Mr. Jarvis from New York." On returning, " I found Mr. 
Boardman at our house," he says, " and our hearts were com- 
forted together." The indebtedness of the society now re- 
quired consideration. " The next day," says Pilmoor, " I called 
together the trustees of the church to consult about paying 
the rest of the money that is yet due upon it, and we settled 
our temporal concerns in an amicable manner." 

Edward Evans preached in Philadelphia on Sunday morn- 
ing, May 12, 1771, and in the evening Pilmoor gave his part- 
ing discourse to his " dear Philadelphians." His journey to 
New York was sooner accomplished than was that which he 
made from it three months previously. He took the stage 
with Mr. Jarvis, Monday morning, May 13th, and about seven 
the next evening they arrived at Paulus Hook, where Jersey 
City now stands. There he greeted many of his friends who 
had crossed the Hudson to meet him. " When we got over 
the North River," he says, " I found many of the dear citizens 
waiting on the shore to welcome me back to New York." 

Pilmoor entered upon his third term of labor in New 



PILMOOR AND CAPTAIN WEBB IN NEW YORK 257 



York with his accustomed zeal and energy. He very soon 
fell sick, and suffered excruciatingly, but he was quickly with 
his young men. They gathered at his house Saturday evening, 
May 18, 1771. " I met with them," he says, " to the great 
comfort of my soul. It is very remarkable that this meeting 
has been more blessed than any other. While I am in New 
York I shall ever rejoice to spend an hour once a week with 
them." 

The first Sunday of this term, May 19th, Pilmoor was 
favored with the assistance of Captain Webb, and he says : 
" Mr. Webb preached in the morning, and the power of God 
was among the people, and likewise in the evening, while I 
preached with great enlargedness of heart." 

He attended the College Commencement, as we have seen, 
in 1770, and now in 1771 he was also present on a like occa- 
sion. His training in Wesley's Kingswood School and his 
later studies enabled him to appreciate and enjoy these liter- 
ary festivals. He viewed them, however, with the eye of 
a Methodist evangelist. On May 21st " I attended," he 
says, "the Commencement at Trinity Church and heard 
the orations of the young men that were studying for their 
degrees. One of them spoke well on love, and another on 
ambition, but I heard nothing about faith in Christ. This is 
quite out of fashion in our day, and a gentleman intended for 
the gown will pass very well if he says nothing about justifi- 
cation by faith." 

He gave the last three days of May to an evangelistic ex- 
cursion in the country, during which he preached at New 
Kochelle, East Chester, and elsewhere. A little later, in very 
hot weather, he preached at Cow Neck and Newtown, Long 
Island, and on June 6th he was in the city visiting from 
house to house. From this domiciliary work " Nature 
shrinks," he says, " but still I go on, and God is with me." 
There was "the shout of a King in Zion," on Sunday, June 
9th. In the evening he was called to see a dying woman in 
the poor-house, in whom he beheld an example of grace tri- 
umphant " over abject poverty and afflicted Nature." A 
field-preacher, he, Saturday evening, June 15th, cried to a lis- 



258 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

tening and decorous multitude in the fields, " Repent and be 
converted, that your sins may be blotted out." The next day 
(Sunday) a divine visitation was enjoyed in John Street. 
Many felt 

" That speechless awe which dares not move, 
And all the silent heaven of love." 

in the evening the people crowded the chapel. " As some 
had charged us with denying original sin," says Pilmoor. 

I took some pains to convince them of their mistake." 
This indicates that Methodism was not yet fully understood 
in New York. It was still in the tentative stage of its prog- 
ress in America. 

Pilmoor was with his young men on June 29, and also 
July 1, 1771. Of the first date he says, " I met the young- 
men. God is again reviving his work among them." On 
the latter day he says, " I went privately to hear how they 
proceeded, and was glad to find them so clear in their judg- 
ment and so devout toward God." In viewing the work now 
in the summer and recalling to mind the revival he witnessed 
the preceding winter in New York, he wrote : " "When I was 
here last, many sinners were convinced and converted ; now 
the work is chiefly among professors." By permission of the 
sheriff, he preached to the prisoners on July 6th. Three 
days subsequently he dined with Captain Devereux and sev- 
eral other captains, with whom he " had pleasing, profitable 
conversation, and was glad to find them willing to join in 
prayer." He preached at Rye, July 18, 1771, and was also 
at New Rochelle. Thence he went to Long Island and 
preached at Jamaica and elsewhere, faithfully sowing beside 
all waters. 

A few days later he began a course of lectures in New 
York on " The Lord's Prayer." Serial sermons have been 
common in these later days ; this method of teaching, how- 
ever, was practised, if not introduced in this country, by 
Joseph Pilmoor. Two sermons in this series were preached 
Sunday, July 28th, another on the Friday night following, 
and two others the next Sunday. Altogether he gave nine 
sermons in the course. As we have seen, he preached a se- 



CLASSES, LOVE FEAST, AND NEGROES IN NEW YORK 259 

ries of discourses on the same theme in Philadelphia, in 
January, 1770. 

A powerful arm of the aggressive Methodism of the past 
was the weekly class. It was unequalled as a school for in- 
doctrinating beginners in the religious life, and for the pre- 
liminary training of the lay evangelists and itinerant preach- 
ers whom Methodism thrust forth. Boardman and Pilmoor 
vigilantly maintained the class-meeting in this country. 
The latter met three of the classes in New York, on July 27, 
1771, and says, " I found the greater part of the members in 
a prosperous condition, and going on in the name of the 
Lord." The love-feast, as we have seen, was also observed 
in those first years of New York Methodism. A few days 
after this visitation of classes by the preacher, he wrote : 
"In the evening we had our Quarterly love-feast. They 
spoke freely of the goodness of God, while a profound awe 
seemed to sit on every countenance. One of the poor ne- 
groes declared her heart was so full of divine love she could 
not express it, and many more of them were exceedingly 
happy." Thus it appears that at that time numerous colored 
people were members of the John Street Society, and some, 
if not most of them, no doubt, were slaves. Slavery was en- 
countered very early by that Society. Pilmoor, in New York, 
wrote concerning the slaves : "If the people who keep them 
in a state of slavery did but take pains to have them in- 
structed in the religion of Jesus it would be some compensa- 
tion for the loss of their liberty, but this, alas, is too much 
neglected. Yet there are a goodly number of Masters in 
America who are glad to do all in their power for them." 
Whether in slavery or freedom, the colored people have 
shared largely in the redeeming ministries of Methodism. 
From the beginning they have been drawn to its altars, and 
to it they are greatly indebted for their moral elevation and 
for their emancipation. 

Robert Williams again appears in New York City, where 

he preached on Sunday, August 11, 1771. Pilmoor says, " I 

was glad of Mr. Williams's assistance in the morning. He 

gave us a very good sermon on the Love of God, and it 
18 



260 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

proved a blessing to the people." Pihnoor, being about to 
leave for Philadelphia, gave his valedictory discourse in the 
evening. It was heard by " a vast crowd and many were 
greatly affected." 

One of the many errors relating to the planting of Meth- 
odism in America, which mar the pages of nearly all its his- 
tories, is that concerning Eobert Williams which Lednum 
gave forth. Lednum says, that as New York was Williams's 
" first field of labor in the New World, where he found kind 
friends and kindred spirits, he hugged it closely for about 
two years and a half, when he went to Virginia." This asser- 
tion is unjust to the memory of a sainted laborer, who was 
foremost in itinerant and apostolic service during the very 
period in which Lednum declares " he hugged " New York 
" closely." Williams came from Europe to Norfolk, and the 
time of his coming was in the summer of 1769, as there is 
reason to believe. Thence he went to New York, and la- 
bored in John Street before Boardman arrived there. The 
last of the following October he left that city, and on Novem- 
ber 1, 1769, he was in Philadelphia, where he preached sev- 
eral times. The sixth of the same month, after preaching at 
five in the morning, he left Philadelphia for Maryland. Seven 
months later, " having lately come up from Maryland," Will- 
iams preached in New York. In seventeen days more he 
started again for his southern field, for on June 20, 1770, 
Pilmoor says, " Mr. Williams set off [from New York] to Phil- 
adelphia on his way to Maryland." The seventh of the fol- 
lowing October he was in Philadelphia, and April 21, 1771, he 
was again in the same city, and August 11th of the same year 
he was in New York once more. These loug itineraries by 
Williams were performed in advance of Asbury's coming. A 
fortnight after the arrival of Asbury, namely November 11, 
1771, we meet Williams again in Philadelphia, and on that 
day we see him starting in company with Eichard Wright for 
Wilmington. 

Thus we have determinative proof in the Journal of Pil- 
moor, who personally knew of Williams's whereabouts on the 
above dates, that during the first two and a quarter years- 



Robert williams's wide travels on horseback 261 

after his arrival in America Robert Williams, instead of " hug- 
ging" New York City, was travelling over most, if not the 
whole, of the already extensive circuit of American Method- 
ism. He travelled on horseback, for we can scarcely presume 
that he claimed the luxury of a carriage. Williams is men- 
tioned in the " Old Book " of John Street, on March 1, 1770, 
in connection with the payment of 16 shillings 8 pence for 
" his horse while at Douglas's, on Staten Island." Three 
weeks later there is an entry in the same book of 12 shil- 
lings " paid more for keeping his horse," and August 30, 
1771, there is still another record of 18 shillings paid to 
" Caleb Hyatt for Mr. Williams's horse keeping." From 1769 
to the arrival of Asbury, in the latter part of 1771, Williams 
penetrated many rural neighborhoods from New Eochelle in 
the North, to the region of the Chesapeake, and poured from 
his anointed lips the thrilling strains of a divine salvation. 
We meet him only occasionally, yet with sufficient frequency, 
to know that he was an alert, invincible and powerful itinerant 
herald of the evangelical doctrines. 

Lednum fell into error again concerning Williams, when 
he asserted that " John King seems to have been the first of 
the four preachers who came over in 1769, that entered the 
Maryland field." Not four, but three preachers only came 
hither in that year, namely, Williams, Boardman, and Pil- 
rnoor. King did not arrive until the summer of the following 
year. Nor was King the first of these wdio went to Mary- 
land, as has been shown already, for Williams labored in 
that province for some time and had thence returned to New 
York, before King began his ministry in America. 

Pilmoor commenced preparations for his journey to Phil- 
adelphia on August 12, 1771, in his sixth exchange with 
Boardman. " In the evening," he says, " a great number of 
the dear people went over the river with me to Paulus Hook. 
After supper we had a solemn season while we joined in 
prayer to the Infinite God, who has so closely united our 
hearts in the bonds of the Gospel. Most of them then re- 
turned to the city, and the rest determined to wait and see 
me set off in the morning." The next day in company with 



262 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Mr. Newton, Pilmoor took the stage for Philadelphia, where 
after a very pleasant journey they arrived the following even- 
ing, August 14, 1771. 

Pilmoor's previous term in Philadelphia did not furnish 
many occasions of exultation. Rather he labored under a 
degree of depression arising, no doubt, from his bodily ener- 
vation, as well as from the absence of such visible results of 
his ministry as he had formerly witnessed in that city. 
Though the cause was maintained, its advancement was not 
such as he longed to see. Now he enters upon his fourth 
term of preaching in the Quaker City under more hopeful 
conditions. He remembered the triumphs of his earlier min- 
istry there, and he looked to the same source of power for 
similar victories. Signs of prosperity quickly appeared. 

Boardman remained in Philadelphia until the second day 
after Pilmoor's arrival. " Mr. Boardman took his departure 
for New York" August 15th, writes Pilmoor, "and I entered 
upon my work in Philadelphia. My heart was deeply af- 
fected at the consideration of what I had seen in this city 
some time ago. The Word did then run, and was glorified 
indeed, and God is still the same." 

On the first Sabbath of his fourth term in Philadelphia 
Pilmoor was refreshed at the morning's service and also in 
hearing Dr. Witherspoon in the Arch Street Church, but he 
says, " My greatest comfort was in the evening while I pub- 
lished the everlasting Gospel to about fifteen hundred people 
in our own church, who all attended in solemn silence. 
After preaching a man came to me in great distress. He 
had been a member of the Methodist Society in Dublin, but 
was drawn into sin and wandered from God. He now feels 
a strong desire to return." 

A laborious but happy day to the indefatigable preacher 
was the first Sunday of September, 1771. " I began my 
work," he says, " in the sanctuary with that glorious invita- 
tion, ' Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,' 
etc. After dinner I took my stand on the steps of the State 
House, where I explained to a prodigious multitude, ' Then 
the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and 



TIMES OF REFRESHING 



263 



loosed him and forgave him the debt.' As I was obliged to 
exert myself, I was pretty much fatigued, but an hour's rest 
restored me so that I was able to preach to a vast crowd in 
the church at six o'clock, and my heart rejoiced in God, my 
Saviour, while I cried, ' Behold the Lamb of God which 
taketh away the sin of the world.' This was like one of our 
old times. The people were as serious as death, receiving 
the word of the Lord with eagerness. Nor was it in vain. 
Many were greatly refreshed, and one poor sinner was 
brought into the liberty of the Sons of God. The next day 
I had many to speak with me of the things of God, several 
of whom are waiting for redemption in the blood of the 
Lamb." 

The next Sunday, September 8, Pilmoor preached in the 
city in the morning, and then preached again at Gloucester, 
N. J. That night he had " a vast congregation " in Phila- 
delphia. On Monday he "spent some hours in visiting 
from house to house," and says, " I found it profitable to my- 
self as well as to the people. At seven the church was al- 
most as full as on Sunday evenings, and all sat with the 
deepest seriousness while I preached on ' Thou art weighed 
in the balances, and art found wanting.' This was one of 
the most solemn hours of my life and one of the most profit- 
able. I felt as though I saw the Judge on his Great White 
Throne, and all the thoughts and intents of my heart were 
laid open before him. I could bless his name for some de- 
gree of rectitude of both heart and life, but would not for a 
thousand worlds have ventured my soul upon it. On Zion's 
rock I build and there I stand secure." 

At five o'clock in the morning of the following Tuesday 
he had " a fine congregation," and " God gave his blessing 
with the Word." Wednesday, the 11th, he says. "I had sev- 
eral persons speak with me about the way of salvation, one 
of whom was a Papist. At present he is in great distress of 
soul and waiting for salvation, not by works of righteousness 
which he has done, but by the mercy of God through the 
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ." He adds the re- 
mark that " when Roman Catholics come to be converted 



264 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



they make excellent Christians," which implies that he had 
known such examples. We shall see that this was not the 
only instance of a Catholic coming to him to inquire the way 
of life. 

The great proportion of the Koman Catholic population in 
our cities constitutes one of the problems of American city 
evangelization. Catholics were in the cities when Boardman 
and Pilmoor labored here, though in less numbers propor- 
tionately than now. While they by their ministry reached 
persons of almost every class in New York and Philadelphia, 
they did not fail of access to Papists. A prominent Catholic 
priest once told me that a high Catholic authority has es- 
timated that five millions of adherents of the Eoman Catholic 
Church have been lost to it in America. Many adherents of 
that church have experienced a spiritual conversion through 
the ministry of Methodism. 

Pilmoor was in St. George's in the morning of the Lord's 
Day, September 15, where he uttered "strong words," which 
were borne upon the hearers with vividness and power. At 
11 o'clock he was at Chestnut Hill, ten miles distant, where, 
amidst shadowing trees, he preached to " a vast congrega- 
tion" on " Flee from the wrath to come." Of this impres- 
sive rural scene he says : " The fine spreading oaks formed a 
noble canopy above us, and we were as happy in the grove 
as in the most pompous temple." On returning to the city 
he felt much fatigued, but says, " the Lord so renewed my 
strength in preaching to the great congregation that I was as 
able to preach as if I had rested all the day." The next Sab- 
bath was a good day. Pilmoor declares, " we had a gracious 
visitation from the Lord which made us rejoice and exult in 
His name. Afterward I heard an excellent sermon from Mr. 
Duche." 

Horse-racing was practised at that time, and at the gen- 
eral society, September 25, 1771, Pilmoor cautioned the 
Methodists against going to the horse-race which was soon 
to occur. " From January 1, 1892, to January 1, 1893, the 
stakes and purses of American race - courses amounted 
to $5,000,000, and the betting upon the races was fully 



PILMOOR VISITS A QUAKER PREACHER 265 

$400,000,000." The Eev. F. W. Kobertson says, " there is a 
gambling spirit in human nature." * That spirit it is the 
mission of the Church to exorcise. Had Pilmoor's caution 
to the Philadelphia Methodists been heeded by the Ameri- 
can people, this source of human demoralization in this coun- 
try would have ceased. 

Pilmoor came in contact with the quiet Friends in the 
Quaker City, and was sometimes refreshed with them. He 
went to visit "that dear man of God, George Dilwyn," with 
whom he sustained a friendly relation. " He is one of the 
best preachers I have ever heard among the Quakers," he 
writes. " My heart is so united with him that I trust we 
shall live together in the heaven of heavens forever and 
ever." 

While he visited from house to house he redeemed time 
for solitary meditation and study. " I am glad to visit the 
people," he says, " and do all in my power to further them in 
the way of salvation, but I hate gossiping, as it directly tends 
to dissipate the mind and promotes lightness and trifling. 
Hence, I think it my duty to be as much as possible in my 
closet, striving to furnish myself with matter for the great 
work of the Lord." 

There were more than two hundred people at the week- 
day early morning service in St. George's the 22d of October, 
1771. " The Lord caused us to rejoice in his salvation," says 
Pilmoor. " Afterwards spent an hour with Mr. Coates and 
his family, where the Lord has lately wrought a wonderful 
change by the preaching of His Gospel. The work now be- 
gins to revive again ; many flock to the preaching and begin 
to inquire what they must do to be saved. Believers are 
comforted and backsliders healed." We shall witness in a 
future chapter the completion of Pilmoor's labors in this, his 
fourth, term in Philadelphia. 

* Robertson's Sermons, Third Series, p. 65. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE OUTSPEEAD OF METHODISM IN THE COUNTEY PEIOE TO THE 
AEEIVAL OF FEANCIS ASBUEY. 

William Wattees, who was converted in Maryland, in 
1771, asserts that up to the summer of that year there had 
been but three Methodist preachers in that province, and 
that these were Strawbridge, "Williams, and King. Soon after- 
ward Richard O wings, or Owen (both spellings of the name oc- 
cur in the early records), appeared as a local evangelist in 
Maryland. Except Evans, Owen, as we have seen, was the first 
preacher raised up by Methodism in America. Therefore, 
in the summer of 1771, there were only eight Methodist 
preachers in America. They were Philip Embury, Robert 
Strawbridge, Thomas Webb, Richard Boardman, Joseph Pil- 
moor, Robert Williams, Edward Evans, and John King. The 
spread of the Wesleyan movement over the country, prior to 
the arrival of Asbury, was due to the labors of these men. 

We are now to inquire as to the extent Methodism had 
spread abroad in the country anterior to the time of Asbury's 
arrival. Captain Webb began to preach as early at least as 

1767, on Long Island, where "within six months about 
twenty-four persons received justifying Grace." * As Webb 
lived at Jamaica, Long Island, it is probable that he 
preached there nearly, if not quite, as early as he preached in 
New York. 

The work began in Maryland previous to the summer of 

1768, for in August of that year the tidings that " a few peo- 
ple in Maryland had lately been awakened under the minis- 
try of Robert Strawbridge " were borne to the English Con- 
ference. As, according to Pilmoor, "the people " who had 

* Thomas Taylor's letter to Mr. Wesley, dated New York, April 11, 1768, 



CONVERSION OF WILLIAM WATTE RS 



267 



been thus " awakened " at that time were " few," and their 
awakening had but " lately " occurred, it seems clear that the 
movement in Maryland under Strawbridge did not begin very 
long before August, 1768, probably as early, however, as the 
preceding year. Eobert "Williams left Philadelphia, Novem- 
ber 6, 1769, for Maryland, and he returned northward in the 
following spring. He preached in New York City, says Pil- 
moor, June 3, 1770, having " lately come up from Maryland." 
A little more than a fortnight later Williams again started 
for Maryland, and at that time Pilmoor declared that Meth- 
odism was " continually spreading wider and wider " in that 
province. As early as the fall of 1769 it had spread into 
Baltimore County. 

William Watters lived in Baltimore County, and in his 
autobiography he says that some time in July, 1770, he had 
frequent opportunities of hearing Methodist preaching in his 
neighborhood. Though his parents were strict members of 
the Church of England, he says that he had none to teach 
him the way of salvation. The two parish clergymen he 
knew had no gifts for the ministry, and besides, they were im- 
moral men. Through the labors of the Methodist preachers 
Watters was brought to serious reflection and became an 
earnest penitent. " Several praying persons," he says, " who 
knew my distress came to visit me, and after some conversa- 
tion I desired that they would pray for me. The family were 
called in, though it was about the middle of the day, and 
J. P. [Joseph Presbury, probably] gave out the hymn : 

" Give to the winds thy fears, 
Hope and be undismayed ; 
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears, 
God shall lift up thy head.' 

While they all joined in singing, my face was turned to 
the wall, with my eyes lifted upward in a flood of tears, and I 
felt a lively hope that the Lord whom I sought would sud- 
denly come to His temple. My good friends sang with the 
Spirit and in faith. The Lord heard and appeared in the 
midst of us. A divine light beamed through my inmost 



268 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



soul, and in a few minutes encircled me round, surpassing the 
brightness of the sun. My burden was gone, my sorrow fled, 
my soul and all that was within me rejoiced in hope of the 
glory of God, while I beheld such a fullness and willing- 
ness in the Lord Jesus to save lost sinners, and my soul so 
rested on Him that I could now for the first time call Jesus 
Christ Lord by the Holy Ghost. The hymn being concluded, 
we all fell upon our knees, but my prayers were turned into 
praises. A supernatural power penetrated every faculty of 
my soul and body." This was in May, 1771. 

Having never known nor heard of any other people who 
professed a knowledge of what he had experienced, and having 
been brought into that experience through their instrumen- 
tality, Watters, of course, united with the Methodists. He 
"thought it a greater blessing to be received among them 
than to be made a prince." His conversion occurred in the 
same house in which he was born. There was so little 
Methodist preaching in Maryland then that frequently in 
Watters's neighborhood there was for months very little 
preaching. The converts, however, supplied the lack of 
ministerial service. "In one sense," said Watters, "we were 
all preachers. The visible change which sinners could not 
but see was a means of leading them to seek the Lord. On 
the Lord's Day we commonly divided into little bands, and 
went out into different neighborhoods wherever there was a 
door open to receive us — two, three, or four of our company 
— and would sing our hymns, read, pray, talk to the people, 
and some soon began to add a word of exhortation. We 
were weak, but we lived in a dark day, and the Lord greatly 
owned our labors. The little flock was of one heart and 
mind, and the Lord spread the leaven of his grace from 
heart to heart, from house to house, and from one neighbor- 
hood to another. Though our gifts were small, it was as- 
tonishing to see how rapidly the work spread all around, 
bearing down the little oppositions it met as chaff before the 
wind. Many will praise God forever for our prayer-meet- 
ings. In many neighborhoods they soon became respectable, 
and were considerably attended to." 



TRAINING OF EARLY METHODIST PREACHERS 269 



Thus the cause advanced in Maryland, notwithstanding the 
fewness of the laborers, and thus, too, were the early Metho- 
dist preachers commonly trained for their soul-winning voca- 
tion. They became skilful in saving men by going out, as 
did Watters, with the experience of a new life, singing, pray- 
ing, and exhorting from house to house and from one neigh- 
borhood to another. From such humble, but useful, service 
Watters soon advanced to the Wesleyan itinerancy. The 
primitive Methodist evangelists had neither the time nor the 
facilities for acquiring liberal culture. They were thrust 
forth in the Providence and by the Spirit of God into the 
great American evangelical field, which was white for the 
harvest. Their phenomenal success illustrated what Farrar 
has said concerning primitive Christianity : " Converts were 
won, not by learning or argument, but by the power of a new 
testimony and the spirit of a new life." * Emerson says that 
" in any public assembly him who has the facts, and can and 
will state them, people will listen to, though he is otherwise 
ignorant, though he is hoarse and ungraceful, though he stut- 
ters and screams." t Carlyle has said: "Let a man but 
speak forth with genuine earnestness the thought, the emo- 
tion, the actual condition of his own heart, and other men, so 
strangely are we all knit together by the tie of sympathy, 
must and will give heed to him." X The early Methodist 
preachers spoke their message from the heart. They knew 
the "facts" concerning salvation, and as they boldly, but 
persuasively, proclaimed them the people listened and were 
moved. What Farrar says of St. Paul's preaching was true 
of theirs : " What was lacking in formal syllogism or power- 
ful declamation was more than supplied by power from on 

high.- 

Methodism early entered Delaware. In the fall of 1769 
Captain Webb was in Wilmington and brought the tidings of 
the success of his labors there in turning people to the Lord 
to Philadelphia. John King went to Delaware to promote 
the work in the beginning of the autumn of 1770. Joseph 

* P. W. Farrar's Life and Work of St. Paul. 

t Society and Solitude. % Essay on Robert Burns. 



270 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



Pilmoor on April 17, 1771, says : " Having had a pressing in- 
vitation I set off is the morning for Wilmington. In the 
evening I found a fine congregation." The next day, April 
18, 1771, he wrote : "I met with Mr. John King, the person 
I sent to these parts several months ago. God has made him 
the instrument of abundance of good to the country people." 
After meeting King, Mr. Pilmoor advanced to Newark, Dela- 
ware, and on the way " we called on an old disciple of Jesus," 
he says, " who has fitted up a place for itinerant preachers 
that they may turn in and refresh themselves as they travel 
after wandering sinners to bring them to God. We had but 
little time to stay ; however, we joined in praise and prayer, 
and were comforted of the Lord. As our way lay through 
New Castle, we called on Mr. Furness, a publican whose heart 
God has touched and made him willing to follow the friend 
of sinners." Concerning this " publican," Lednum, in his 
" History of the Kise of Methodism in America," says : 
" Robert Furness, who kept a public house in New Castle, was 
the first that received the preachers and the preaching into 
his house in this town. By joining the Methodists he lost 
his custom, and as the Court-house, which was open for balls, 
was closed against Methodist preachers, they preached in his 
tavern." 

Pilmoor now proceeded to Newark, Delaware, but found 
" the town in confusion on account of the fair, so it was 
thought advisable not to preach. However," he says, " I was 
glad to join with a few serious people whom I found at the 
house where we put up. This was made a blessing to our 
souls. Our hearts were refreshed in waiting upon the Lord. 
Just as I was going down-stairs a gentlewoman called to me, 
who desired to have some conversation. She told me she 
had heard some of our preachers and wished to know what I 
thought of the doctrine of perfection. I told her all the per- 
fection I hold is contained in those words of our Lord, ' Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbor 
as thyself.' She said, 'That is not an answer to my question.' 

" ' Madam, it is such an answer as I thought proper to 
give, and I am sorry if you do not understand me.' 



PILMOOR LABORS FOUR DAYS IN DELAWARE IN 1771 271 

" ' Do you think we can attain to that in this life ? ' 

" ' If not Jesus Christ has given us too hard a task. But 
wise master-builders begin at the foundation, and it is neces- 
sary to inquire whether we have begun there. If we have, 
then we must go forward with the superstructure as fast as 
we can, and the sooner the top-stone is brought forth with 
shoutings, crying, " Grace! Grace ! " unto it the better.' " 

In the evening of the same day Pilmoor " preached at 
Christeen Bridge and was greatly favored with the blessing of 
God." The following day, Friday, April 19, 1771, he 
preached in the morning and in the afternoon and says : " The 
people were so devout I thought myself well rewarded in 
coming from Philadelphia to visit them. Kode on to New 
Castle and had a time of refreshing in the evening while I 
preached Christ Jesus the Lord. I was much fatigued when 
I began, but the happiness I felt in my mind soon made me 
forget my toil and pain." The next day he " expounded part 
of the first Psalm, which was made a special blessing to the 
people." He then hastened to Wilmington and preached there 
at noon, his text being, " Not by works of righteousness which 
we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us," etc. 
He then went " pretty swiftly " to Philadelphia, where he ar- 
rived about nine o'clock, Saturday evening, April 20, 1771. 
In this itinerary of four days in Delaware he preached seven 
times. 

Pilmoor preached to a few people at the house of a Swede 
at Pennypack, Pa., about eight miles from Philadelphia, De- 
cember 20, 1769. He, after preaching, formed " a little so- 
ciety " at Pennypack, on March 26, 1770. Pilmoor preached 
" many times in the country as well as in the city," in the 
month of January, 1770. On the third of March in that year 
he preached at a place twenty miles from Philadelphia. 
Twenty days later, when he was about leaving for his first ex- 
change with Boardman, he asserted that he had preached at 
many places adjacent to Philadelphia, and that the "sacred 
fire " was " kindled." 

In the fore part of the year 1770, Philip Embury, the Heck 
family, and others removed to the interior of New York prov- 



272 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEBIC A 



ince and formed the Ashgrove society. In April, 1770, Pil- 
moor preached at Jamaica, Long Island, and in the course of 
the same spring and in early summer be preached at Newtown, 
Harlem, West Chester, and elsewhere in the province of New 
York. He says that on June 15, 1770, Robert Williams 
brought good news " from the country. The work is spread- 
ing as far as New Bochelle, among some French Protestants." 

Pilmoor preached in a Baptist church at Bordentown, 
New Jersey, on July 26, 1770. The next day he preached in 
the town hall at Burlington "to a fine congregation." He 
was at Gloucester Court-house, where the word was received 
"with joy" August 12, 1770. He also preached there four 
weeks later, and then in six more weeks he again proclaimed 
the living word at Gloucester. Thence onward until he re- 
turned to New York, in the ensuing November, he preached 
at Pennypack, near Bustleton ; at White Marsh, Pa. ; at Bur- 
lington, N. J., and he was also at Bordentown, Trenton, and 
Princeton. At Princeton, Boardman preached the seventh 
or eighth of November, 1770, in the college chapel. 

Captain Webb formed a society in Burlington, New Jersey, 
December 14, 1770, and appointed Joseph Toy its leader. 
Mr. Toy removed soon after to Trenton, in the same prov- 
ince, where with three or four persons, one of whom was a 
man who had been a Methodist in Ireland, he met in class. 
The historian of Trenton says that the first man who preached 
the doctrines of Methodism " in Trenton was Thomas Webb. 
He came about 1766, and preached to the people in a stable 
near the corner of Green and Academy Streets. The new 
doctrine met at first with considerable opposition, and those 
who advocated it were persecuted." * 

Joseph Toy, the leader of the first society in Burlington, 
was the first class-leader in New Jersey of whom we have 
knowledge. Born in that province in 1748, he received an 
academic education in Burlington, was converted through the 
preaching of W~ebb, and in 1776 removed to Maryland, where 
he peacefully died January 28, 1826. Toy became a successful 
itinerant preacher, and an instructor in Cokesbury College, an 
*Rauns's History of Trenton, pp. 115-116. 



PILMOOR PREACHES IN WESTCHESTER COUNTY 273 



institution which originated at the Christmas Conference 
that organized the Methodist Episcopal Church. In a let- 
ter written August 18, 1802, to Bishop Whatcoat, Bishop As- 
bury says : " Great times in Calvert ; Brother Toy does well, 
does wonders." Later Asbury made this record : " Joseph 
Toy still steady, diligent, pleased the people." 

Pilmoor preached at New Kochelle, New York, " to a fine 
congregation " May 29, 1771, in the afternoon. He " spent 
the evening in company with several lovers of Jesus, who 
seemed glad of an opportunity of speaking freely on the sub- 
ject of spiritual religion." The next day after preaching 
again he rode to a small village, and "preached in the Hugue- 
nots' church to a congregation of decent, attentive hearers." 
A Mr. Abraham, " an old gentleman belonging to the Church 
of Holland, took me to his house," says Pilmoor, " where I 
was entertained with the utmost kindness and hospitality." 
After preaching the next day (Friday), May 31, 1771, Pilmoor 
rode to East Chester, where he " preached with much liberty." 
Then he hastened to Kingsbridge, dined, " and reached New 
York just in time to preach in the evening.' 

He started on another evangelical excursion the following 
Monday, June 3d, in very hot w T eather. He came to Cow 
Neck, about thirty-four miles from New York City, and in the 
afternoon he there met " a fine congregation," to whom he 
" preached with power and the word seemed to work effectu- 
ally." In going to Newtown the next clay he missed his way 
in a forest. When he arrived there he began service without 
delay, enjoyed a gracious season, and returned to the city. 

Pilmoor went to West Chester July 15, 1771, and preached 
" to a small but genteel congregation " from the text, " Blessed 
are the people that know the joyful sound," etc. He rode 
with his " dear friend, Mr. Theodosius Bartow, to East Ches- 
ter," where he was entertained for the night very hospitably. 
In the morning " my friend," says Pilmoor, " accompanied 
me to the town of East Chester, where it was appointed for 
me to preach. As it was in the middle of wheat harvest I 
thought we should have very few to hear, but was happily 
disappointed. A great number of persons attended while I 



274 THE WESLEYAIST MOVEMENT IX AMERICA 

preached the Gospel in demonstration of the Spirit and with 
power. At night I had a good time in preaching at New Ro- 
chelle, and took up my abode that night with my old and 
valued friend, Mr. Abraham." 

Pilmoor now rode with several friends to Mr. Devon's, 
where he preached "the truth in love." He preached to a 
noble congregation at Eye, N. Y., July 18, and then re- 
turned to New Eochelle and spent the evening with Mr. 
Drake, a capitalist. Next morning he was accompanied by 
several friends in a boat to Long Island. " As the weather 
was calm," he says, " we united in the praises of Jehovah, 
and in about an hour we got safely over." He preached in 
the evening, and very early the next day he renewed his 
journey and preached at a place which he does not name at 
eight in the morning. Hastening on through the woods he 
arrived at Jamaica, where a number of New Yorkers had 
come to meet him. "After dinner," he says, "we had a 
fine congregation, and God gave His word success." They 
" took leave of the dear, affectionate people of Jamaica," had 
a most delightful journey to the ferry, and he arrived in 
New York about seven o'clock in the evening of Saturday, 
July 20, 1771, he having been absent six days in this coun- 
try itinerary, in which he must have travelled more than a 
hundred miles, besides preaching one or more sermons every 
day. Two days after his return to the city he wrote that 
" having travelled much in the country, exposed to the sultry 
heat, and preached twelve times in a few days, I was glad of a 
little rest." Yet he soon set out for Long Island again and 
crossed the East River, but his progress was arrested by the 
heat. Concerning his failure to proceed, August 5th he says : 
" After dinner I crossed the ferry to Long Island, intending 
to preach at Newtown, but the heat was so great that no one 
would hire out their horses, except we would promise to pay 
for them if they died. This being the case, I judged it best 
to return to the city. For several days the weather contin- 
ued so very hot that it was difficult to breathe in the sultry 
air, and those who were obliged to be about their business 
were in the utmost danger of losing their lives." 



PILMOOR TRAVELS AND PREACHES IN NEW JERSEY 275 

We find the aggressive itinerant preaching at Gloucester, 
N. J., on Sunday, September 8, 1771. The next Sunday, at 
Chestnut Hill, about ten miles from Philadelphia, he warned 
"a vast congregation " to flee from the wrath to come. After 
the five-o'clock preaching in Philadelphia, the first day of 
October, he "set off with Mr. and Mrs. Dove for Burlington," 
where they arrived in two hours. As there was a large con- 
gregation assembled, Pilmoor hastened to the Court-house 
and preached on "We know what we worship." The fol- 
lowing day he was quite busy. " I preached," he says, " in 
the [Burlington] Court-house at ten, then went to dine on an 
Island in the Dela ware with an Englishman, who has lately 
received an earnest desire to save his soul. We had much 
profitable conversation, and were very much blessed in sing- 
ing and prayer. Having a desire to try Bristol, a little town 
in Pennsylvania, about twenty miles from the city, we all 
went over in a boat and I preached in the Court-house, but 
fear my labor was almost in vain, for the Bristol Gallios care 
but little for any of these things. The case was widely dif- 
ferent in the evening while I preached in Burlington. The 
congregation was so large that the house was exceedingly 
hot, but God made it all up by his heavenly presence and 
power." The next day, having an appointment to preach in 
Philadelphia in the evening, he hastened thither "through 
the Jerseys, where the heat of the weather and the hot, dry 
sands" made travelling difficult. But his toil was not with- 
out result. A few days later Pilmoor was sent for to visit a 
man who was in great mental distress. "It seems," says the 
preacher, " he heard me preach at Burlington last week, and 
was so awakened that he has had no rest since." 

In about a week after this evangelistic digression in New 
Jersey, Pilmoor made another excursion into Pennsylvania. 
Two men came more than twenty miles to take him to the 
country, and he departed with them on Friday, October 11, 
1771. A considerable rain on the previous day had left the 
roads in bad condition. On his arrival at the place, " I 
found," he says, " a family of pious Welsh people who re- 
ceived me as if I had been a messenger from heaven. After 
19 



276 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



dinner we had a large congregation of very genteel people. 
The house was filled with the women, and all the men stood 
without waiting with the greatest attention while I declared 
' the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.' After preaching I had 
some conversation with a Baptist minister who had been one 
of my hearers. He thought well of my sermon, only he 
thought I had extended the Gospel too far. How wonderful 
that a minister of Christ should blame me for preaching the 
Gospel to every creature." The proclamation of free and im- 
partial grace by the Wesleyan preachers proved a formidable 
hindrance to the advance of Calvinism. Pilmoor continued 
to dwell upon the pleasing theme on which he had preached, 
for, he says, when the minister had gone " I had much 
conversation with the family and several of their select 
friends about the willingness of Jesus to save." The next 
day he went to Methacton, and as the chapel would not 
nearly contain the congregation he preached in the wood. 

The next day, Sunday, October 13, 1771, Pilmoor preached 
in a grove at Chestnut Hill, and he had reason to believe 
that the Word fell with saving effect upon many of the 
people. Two days later, as we shall see, he preached the 
funeral sermon of Edward Evans in the chapel at Greenwich, 
N. J., where Evans had ministered. He performed that ser- 
vice at the request of " the heads of the congregation " of 
Greenwich. 

From Pilmoor's narrative it appears that Evans became 
identified with the Methodists about the time Pilmoor and 
Boardman came. He preached the Wesleyan doctrines in New 
Jersey as early, probably, as the year 1770. He became the 
minister of the church at Greenwich several months before his 
lamented death. The following obituary record concerning 
this saintly preacher was made by Pilmoor in October, 1771 : 
" Immediately upon my arrival at home, my housekeeper 
told me of the death of my ever dear and venerable friend, 
Mr. Edward Evans. He was savingly converted to God 
about thirty years ago, under the ministry of that precious 
man of God, Mr. Whitefield, and has maintained an unspotted 
character from the beginning. When Providence brought 



DEATH OF FIRST AMERICAN METHODIST PREACHER 277 



Mr. Boardman and me to America, he united with us most 
heartily, and was made a most useful instrument among us. 
As he frequently went into the Jerseys to preach, the people 
were exceedingly fond of him, built a pretty chapel, and in- 
sisted upon having him for their minister. After he had 
been with them a few months he took the fall fever, which 
soon brought him to his grave. As he lived, so he died, full 
of faith and full of obedient love." 

The day before that on which Pilmoor preached Mr. 
Evans's funeral sermon at Greenwich, he preached a discourse 
in Philadelphia with reference to the sorrowful event of his 
departure. " Monday, October 14," says Pilmoor, " we had 
a crowded church to hear the funeral sermon, which I 
preached from the text, ' Blessed are the dead which die in 
the Lord.' The people were deeply affected and seemed as 
if they were determined to follow the example of Edward 
Evans as he followed Christ, that they might die in the Lord 
like him." 

From the several references to Mr. Evans and his min- 
istry in Pilmoor's Journal, it is clear that he was the pos- 
sessor of a devout and loving spirit, a good preacher, a friend 
and useful coadjutor of the first Wesleyan missionaries in 
this country, and the devoted and beloved pastor of the first 
Methodist society that worshipped in a meeting-house in 
New Jersey. His name repeatedly appears in our narrative 
in connection with his labors. He preached on several occa- 
sions in Philadelphia, as we have seen, and was highly es- 
teemed as a minister of Christ. Though hitherto unknown 
to the great Methodist Church of America, he will henceforth 
receive recognition as a blameless and interesting character, 
and especially as the first American Methodist preacher. 

It appears that the title of the Greenwich chapel was not 
vested in any denomination. We learn from the researches 
of the late Rev. Garner R. Snyder, of New Jersey, that this 
chapel was located at Berkley, near the present village of 
Clarksboro, and that it was called Greenwich after the name 
of the township. The chapel, says Mr. Snyder, "was in 
charge of seven managers, who met June 30, 1774, and de- 



278 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



cided that," as it appeared to them, "'it would be for the 
advantage of religion and piety that the said Church be the 
property of some one denomination or sect of Christians, 
and as it appears from the subscription paper that by far the 
greater part of the money laid out on the building was given 
by members of the Church of England, and still desire that 
this may be an established Church, we therefore agree that it 
shall be so.' This action evidently was resisted, and to calm 
the troubled waters a committee was appointed to decide 
who should be admitted to and who excluded from the pul- 
pit. It was also decided that the money paid should be re- 
funded to such as claimed to be dissatisfied. But too many 
were dissatisfied, and this offer was modified so as to mean 
anyone who would say he did not give it for the Church of 
England, but for a Methodist meeting-house. September 13, 
1774, Thomas Eankin, then General Assistant, and other 
prominent Methodists met the managers, and it was finally 
agreed that the regulation made by the managers shall be 
observed by each party." 

Of the seven managers of the chapel two were Methodists. 
" The two Methodist managers," says Mr. Snyder, " soon 
withdrew from the board, and the fact that it was decided 
that there should be no private meetings for divine service 
held in said church implies the existence of a class, and 
the purpose to prevent the continuance of its meetings in the 
church. The society being thus driven out soon erected a 
small frame building near by, which after a few years was 
moved to Clonmell, near Gibbstown, where it remained a 
place of worship for many years, the site of which is yet 
marked by an old deserted graveyard." Mr. Snyder derived 
nearly all of the above facts from the Register of St. Paul's 
Church, Clarksboro, N. J., " the successor of the Greenwich 
Church." Such was the history of the first preaching-house 
of the Methodists in New Jersey. 

We have now seen in some degree the outspread of 
Methodism in America prior to the arrival of Mr. Asbury. 
From lack of data we are not able to perceive all that was 
done by Williams and King in different parts of the country 



ITINERANCY OF BOARDMAN AND PILMOOR 



279 



in the same period, yet we have seen them sufficiently in 
their travels and ministry to know that they scattered the 
seed of the kingdom widely and effectually in America, be- 
fore Asbury crossed the Atlantic. Furthermore, it is alto- 
gether probable that Boardman's labors in America in the 
two years preceding the coming of Asbury were not wholly 
confined to Philadelphia and New York, but that, like Pil- 
nioor, he, as he had opportunity, went forth into the high- 
ways of the country to spread the good tidings. We have in 
Pilmoor's narrative evidence that Boardman insisted upon 
maintaining the itinerancy with respect to frequent ex- 
changes, for Pilmoor at times removed from one city to the 
other when he desired to remain longer. But Boardman 
would change three or four times a year. Therefore it is fair 
to conclude that with such views of the itinerancy, Board- 
man's voice was heard in the country regions from time to 
time. We have in this chapter proof of Pilmoor's activity in 
country itineraries from the beginning of the year 1770 until 
he met and welcomed Asbury upon his arrival in America at 
Philadelphia. So far as Pilmoor was concerned, at any rate, 
the record of his itinerant work in different parts of the land, 
before Asbury arrived, which has just been brought under 
review, sufficiently corrects the assumption that he seldom 
preached to rural communities, and that it was Asbury 's 
office to thrust his predecessors in the American field out 
of the cities into the country. There is no evidence that 
the more extensive travels of Pilmoor and Boardman, after 
Asbury came, were undertaken at his instance, but as we 
shall quickly see there is evidence to the contrary. The re- 
inforcement of the work by two additional missionaries gave 
to those already here more time to labor in the country, an 
opportunity which they well improved. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ARRIVAL OF FRANCIS ASBURY. 



An almost epochal event in American ecclesiastical his- 
tory occurred October 27, 1771. On that day there appeared 
in Philadelphia, fresh from England, a young Wesleyan 
preacher, who was destined to become the leader of Method- 
ism in the New World ; who was to be identified fully with 
it throughout his life, and who was to guide and impel it 
with such skilful and forceful generalship as should in- 
sure its outspread over the American Republic and much 
of Canada ; and who, in securing to it a singularly com- 
pact and powerful organization, was to render it one of 
the most aggressive and victorious evangelical forces of 
Christendom. Francis Asbury was not in every particu- 
lar always the ideal man, informed at all times with the 
highest wisdom, and totally free from self-intrusion ; yet, 
undoubtedly, he was one of the saintliest and mightiest re- 
ligious propagandists of his time in this country, and of 
greater value to it than its wealthiest city or its richest 
mine of gold. While as a historian I shall not be able in 
every instance to accord praise to his acts and words, never- 
theless the truth of history will compel me to claim for him 
one of the highest niches, if not the highest, in the temple of 
American Christianity. 

Asbury himself sketched the prominent events of his 
early history. Of his birth he says : " I was born in Old 
England, near the foot of Hampstead Bridge, about four 
miles from Birmingham in Staffordshire, and according to 
the best of my after knowledge, on the 20th or 21st day of 
August, 1745." He was the only son of his parents, and his 
father desired him to remain in school, " he cared not how 



ASBUItY's CONVERSION AND MINISTRY IN ENGLAND 281 



long " ; but the beatings he received aroused in the boy " such 
horrible dread " of the pedagogue as caused him to prefer 
anything to school. He was religiously impressed in child- 
hood and says that he " felt something of God as early as the 
age of seven." When about fifteen, " the Word of God," he 
writes, " made deep impression upon my heart, which 
brought me to Jesus Christ, who graciously justified my 
guilty soul through faith in his precious blood. About six- 
teen I experienced a marvellous display of the Grace of God, 
which some might think was full sanctification, and, indeed, 
I was very happy, though in an ungodly family. At about 
seventeen I began to hold some public meetings, and be- 
tween seventeen and eighteen began to exhort and to preach. 
At twenty-one I travelled much, and in the beginning of my 
twenty-second year I travelled altogether. I was nine 
months in Staffordshire and adjoining shires, two years in 
Bedfordshire circuit, and two in Salisbury circuit." * i 

For six months anterior to the session of the English 
Conference, in August, 1771, Asbury had " strong intimations" 
within him that he should go to America. He took it to 
the Lord, " and at the Conference, when it was proposed that 
some preachers should go over to the American continent," 
he says, " I spoke my mind and made an offer of myself. I 
was accepted by Mr. Wesley and others, who judged I had a 
call." t From the Conference Asbury went to see his par- 
ents, and as gently as possible he informed them of his de- 
sign. They sorrowfully acquiesced. His father, whom he 
seldom, if ever, saw weep until this crisis, " was overwhelmed 
with tears, with grief. He cried out, 4 1 shall never see him 
again,' " a prophecy which proved true. " My mother," says 
Asbury, " was one of the tenderest parents in the world, but 
I believe she was blessed with Divine assistance to part with 
me." The wrench sustained by his own heart in leaving his 
parents — their only living child — to see them no more in life, 
he, nearly thirty years afterward, adverted to as " a wounded 
memory." 

* Asbury's Journal, Vol. t,pp. 120-122, and Vol. II., p. 257. 
t Ibid., Vol. I., p. 11. 



282 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



His mother was a woman of exalted character though in 
humble life. Her son said of her, that " for fifty years her 
hands, her house, and her heart were open to receive the 
people of God and ministers of Christ, and thus a lamp was 
lighted up in a dark place called Great Barre, in Great Brit- 
ain. She was an afflicted yet most active woman, of quick 
bodily powers and masculine understanding; nevertheless, 
' so kindly were the elements mixed in her,' that her strong 
mind quickly felt the subduing influences of that Christian 
sympathy which ' weeps with those who weep.' As a woman 
and a wife she was modest, blameless. As a mother (above 
all the women in the world would I claim her for my own), 
ardently affectionate. As a mother in Israel, few of her sex 
have done more by a holy walk to live, and by personal labor 
to support the Gospel and to wash the Saint's feet. As a 
friend she was generous, true, and constant." Mrs. Asbury's 
Christian name was Elizabeth. She died full of years and 
virtues, January 6, 1802, having attained to the great age of 
eighty-six or eighty-seven. 

Asbury says of his father that had he been as saving as 
he was laborious he might have been wealthy. He was em- 
ployed as farmer and gardener to two wealthy families.* For 
about thirty-nine years he had the Gospel preached in his 
house. In 1798 " he died happy." 

Richard Wright was appointed to America also and 
awaited Asbury at Bristol. On September 4, 1771, they 
sailed from a port near that city. Their voyage did not end 
until the twenty-seventh of the following month, when they 
entered Philadelphia. It was the Sabbath and Pilmoor says : 
"We had a time of love in the morning. In the afternoon, 
Messrs. Asbury and Wright arrived from England to help us 
in the great work of the Lord. We had long prayed for and 
expected them, and now I trust the Lord will be with them, 
and make his face to shine on all their labors." They were 

* Francis Asbury was apprenticed when about thirteen, and served at his calling 
about six and a half years. The Rev. Alexander McCaine was a travelling compan- 
ion of Bishop Asbury, and McCaine in his Organization and Early History of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, p. 113, asserts that Asbury " went to learn the trade 
of a button maker." 



ASBURY' S FIRST SERMON IN AMERICA 



283 



kindly entertained at the house of Francis Harris, "who 
brought us to a large Church," says Asbury, " where we met 
with a considerable congregation. Brother Pilmoor preached. 
The people looked on us with pleasure, bidding us welcome 
with fervent affection, and receiving us as angels of God." He 
adds : " I feel that God is here and find plenty of all we need."* 

This was quite different from the entrance of Pilmoor and 
Boardman into Philadelphia two years previously. They 
walked the streets of the strange city not knowing there were 
Methodists there, and intended to proceed to New York to 
find their work and receive their welcome, when they were ac- 
costed by and taken to the house of an Irish Wesleyan, who 
had seen Boardman in Ireland. Contrasting their own arrival 
with that of Asbury and Wright, Pilmoor remarked: "When 
Mr. Boardman and I arrived here we had but few to take 
notice of us or show us any kindness. Now there are many 
hundreds in Philadelphia who wish us success in the name 
of the Lord." Pilmoor was very fraternal toward the new mis- 
sionaries, and on the day following their arrival he says he 
" spent a great part of the day in introducing the preachers 
to all my particular friends in the city, and rejoice to see them 
so well received." 

The second evening after his arrival Asbury opened his 
ministry in America in the city of Philadelphia. This his- 
torical fact is not mentioned in his journal, nor does he give 
any information concerning his movements during his first 
week in this country. This lack, however, is supplied some- 
what by Pilmoor who on October 28, 1771, says : " We had a 
fine congregation to hear Mr. Asbury. He preached with a 
degree of freedom and the word seemed to be attended with 
life." 

The second day after his arrival in Philadelphia, Asbury 
accompanied Pilmoor to the only chapel which the Metho- 
dists then occupied in New Jersey, the society at which were 
in grief for the death of Mr. Evans. On that occasion, Octo- 
ber 29, 1771, Pilmoor says : " Mr. Asbury went with me to 
Grinage [Greenwich] chapel, where I preached to a fine at- 
tentive audience on the barren fig-tree. The poor, distressed 



284 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



people seemed to receive the word with gladness and thought 
themselves much obliged by the visit we paid them. After 
preaching I called upon my dear friend, Mrs. Evans, whom I 
found much better. The Lord has wonderfully supported her 
under the sharp trial of losing her beloved husband." Of 
the desire to hear Methodist preaching in that early day, an 
example was furnished by a woman whom the two preachers 
overtook while on their way back from Greenwich. She " had 
walked fourteen miles that morning with her child in her 
arms to hear the sermon, and was to return that night." 

Eichard Wright preached in Philadelphia on the first 
Sunday morning after his arrival with Asbury. " The people 
seemed to be pretty well satisfied with his matter," says Pil- 
moor, " and as to his manner he will easily improve." .The 
next night, November 4, 1771, the preachers held a watch 
meeting. In the primitive period of Methodism this special 
service was observed not only on the last night of a year, but 
on other nights also. Pilmoor preached at five in the morn- 
ing, and at eight in the evening he opened the watch meet- 
ing with a sermon. Asbury says " the people attended with 
great seriousness." Asbury and Wright " exhorted," says 
Pilmoor, " and we continued in prayer and praise until mid- 
night." " Yery few people left the room," Asbury says, " till 
the conclusion ; toward the end a plain man spoke who came 
out of the country, and his words went with great power to 
the souls of the people." The next evening Asbury preached 
and he says : " This also was a night of power to my own 
and many other souls." 

Asbury departed for New York to join Boardman on the 
sixth of November, 1771 ; Asbury says he left Philadelphia on 
the seventh, but it is apparent from the context in his Journal 
that this date was not accurate. For some ensuing days his 
dates are one day in advance of the time. Pilmoor's dates at 
that time are correct. He says, November 6th : " Mr. Asbury 
took the Burlington stage for New York to assist Mr. Board- 
man, and I trust he will be a special instrument in the hands 
of God in turning many to righteousness." 

It was the privilege of Pilmoor to see an abundant reali- 



ASBURY IN NEW YORK 



285 



zation of this devout hope, for he was living and preaching in 
Philadelphia when Asbury ceased from his apostolic labors. 
From the day that he in that city welcomed Asbury to the 
field where he was to toil and suffer and die, until Asbury's 
ascension to the heavens, Pilmoor was a witness of his labo- 
rious and wonderfully fruitful career. 

On his way to New York Asbury preached in the Court- 
house at Burlington, and also twice in the house of Peter 
van Pelt, whom he met on his journey and who invited him 
to his home on Staten Island. Asbury preached also at the 
house of a Justice Wright on the same Island. He reached 
New York November 11, 1771, and " found Eichard Board- 
man in peace, but weak in body." The next day he opened 
his ministry in that metropolis by preaching to a large con- 
gregation on " I determined to know nothing among you save 
Jesus Christ and him crucified." He found the people " lov- 
ing and serious, and in some of them a love of discipline." 
Furthermore, he declared " I know the life and power of re- 
ligion is here." "My friend Boardman," he says, "is a 
kind, loving, worthy man, truly amiable and entertaining, and 
of a childlike temper." He was very favorably impressed 
with what he saw in the New York society. " I think," he 
says, "the Americans are more ready to receive the word 
than the English. To see the poor negroes so affected is 
pleasing ; to see their sable countenances in our solemn as- 
semblies, and to hear them sing with cheerful melody their 
Eedeemer's praise affected me much." 

Asbury, however, did not long remain content with the 
conduct of the work. Nine days after he entered New York, 
and twenty-three days after he arrived in America, he wrote : 
" I remain in New York though unsatisfied with our being 
both in town together. I have not yet the thing Avhich I seek 
— a circulation of the preachers to avoid partiality and popu- 
larity. However, I am fixed in the Methodist plan, and do 
what I do faithfully as to God. I expect trouble is at hand. 
This I expected when I left England, and I am willing to 
suffer, yea to die sooner than to betray so good a cause by 
any means. It will be a hard matter to stand against all op- 



286 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



position as an iron pillar strong and steadfast as a wall of 
brass." Why should this young man, who was yet but a 
stranger in America, have spoken thus? The preachers who 
preceded him here had displayed thorough devotion to the 
work, and had established it permanently in two of the chief 
centres of population and commerce besides planting it in 
rural places. They had maintained a rapid circulation of the 
preachers, Boardman and Pilmoor themselves having alter- 
nated at short intervals between Philadelphia and New York. 
When Pilmoor greeted and welcomed Asbury in Philadelphia, 
he had spent two and a half months of his fourth term in 
that city, and had already completed three terms of labor in 
New York. Boardman likewise had served three terms in 
Philadelphia and had almost completed three months of his 
fourth term in New York, when Asbury joined him there. 
Asbury, on the contrary, had stayed two years in each of his 
last two circuits in England. As soon as Williams was set 
free from John Street by Boardman's arrival in New York, 
he started for Maryland, where he evidently spent the winter 
of 1769-70, and then in the spring returned to the northern 
portion of the field. Early in the summer following Williams 
again departed to Maryland. We have seen how widely 
Webb travelled and preached from the beginning — being first 
in New York and Long Island, then in New Jersey, Philadel- 
phia, Wilmington, and, as there is some reason to believe, in 
Maryland also. Then we have seen Bobert Strawbridge 
away from his Maryland home, and as early as January 14, 
1770, preaching in Philadelphia. Edward Evans, too, had itin- 
erated, and had left Philadelphia to minister in a rural com- 
munity in New Jersey, where he died. In view of the rapid 
movements of the Wesleyan itinerants here for the two years 
preceding the coming of Asbury, some of his utterances made 
almost immediately after his arrival seem nearly inexplicable, 
such for instance as "I have not yet the thing which I seek — 
a circulation of the preachers." 

Only two days after he wrote the above passage, Asbury 
indited the following notable paragraph : "At present I am 
dissatisfied. I judge we are to be shut up in the cities this 



asbury's animadversions 



287 



winter. My brethren seem unwilling to leave the cities, but 
I think I will show them the way. I am in trouble, and 
more trouble is at hand, for I am determined to make a stand 
against all partiality. I have nothing to seek but the glory 
of God ; nothing to fear but His displeasure. I am come 
over with an upright intention, and through the grace of God 
I will make it appear. I am determined that no man shall 
bias me with soft words and fair speeches, nor will I ever 
fear (the Lord helping me) the face of man or know any man 
after the flesh, if I beg my bread from door to door." 

What was the purpose of such bold, not to say defiant, 
utterances ? Did Asbury demand that the cities should be 
abandoned after all the devoted labor that had been bestowed 
upon them, and the flocks that had been gathered there be 
left without shepherds ? It seems scarcely possible that he 
could have been so rash as to propose such a course. If the 
cities were to be adequately cared for, two men would be re- 
quired for the service. We have seen that large and deeply 
interested congregations had assembled during the preceding 
two years in New York and Philadelphia, and Asbury himself 
has asserted that in 1771 (the year of his arrival) there were 
" about 300 Methodists in New York, and 250 in Philadel- 
phia." * Besides, as the outcome of much earnest effort and 
considerable pecuniary outlay, the young and struggling 
society in each of those cities possessed a house of worship 
and both structures were in debt. Could Asbury have thought 
it wise or even justifiable to leave those churches, with their 
large congregations and considerable membership, without 
regular ministerial service? If he did not think so, why 
should he have spoken so deprecatingly about the unwilling- 
ness of the preachers to leave the cities, and of his personal 
intention to show them the way to do it ? 

Asbury undoubtedly was precipitate in forming his con- 
clusions respecting the conduct of the work in America. 
" Wait and see " is a good maxim for a beginner in any sphere 
of action. Asbury's zeal was ardent, but in this instance it 
was not guided by knowledge. His attachment to the cause 

* See Asbury's Journal, Vol. Ill, , p. 121. 



288 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



he had come to serve was strong, but that did not justify his 
hasty and bold assumption of superiority in wisdom and 
authority over Boardman and Pilmoor, who where his seniors 
in years and in office and his superiors in culture and knowledge 
of the field. Boardman, not Asbury, was then by appoint- 
ment of Mr. Wesley in charge of the American work, yet it 
would seem from these remarkable utterances of his that 
Asbury conceived that its direction now largely devolved upon 
himself. The disturbance in both New York and Philadel- 
phia, which, as we shall see, arose soon after Asbury's insist- 
ence upon the acceptance of his ideas respecting the dis- 
position of the work, seems to indicate that he proceeded as 
if he were chief in authority. 

The spirit of rulership which was thus displayed by him 
was inherent in the man. The Eev. Devereux Jarratt, rector 
of Bath Episcopal parish in Virginia, was a minister of posi- 
tive religious character and burning zeal, who, as we shall 
soon see, labored with and for the Methodists in that province. 
He was very friendly with Asbury, who bore ample testimony 
to Jarratt's worth and usefulness, and preached a memorial 
sermon on Jarratt's character and labors upon the occasion of 
his death. Jarratt had good opportunity to know Asbury, 
having received him again and again into his house. He 
bore testimony to Asbury's diligence in labor, but he dis- 
covered in him a disposition to be chief, which disposition 
we have just seen manifested so early in his American career. 
When Asbury was close to his thirty-fifth birthday, Jarratt, 
in a letter of the date of August 2, 1780, said of him : " Mr. 
Asbury is the most indefatigable man in his travels and 
variety of labors of any I am acquainted with ; and though 
his strong passion for superiority and thirst for domination 
may contribute not a little to this, yet I hope he is chiefly in- 
fluenced by more laudable motives." * This " strong passion 
for superiority and thirst for domination " largely explains 
some of his procedures after he arrived in America. There 
is no cause to doubt his Christian sincerity, however, nor that 
his spirit of generalship which he so soon displayed here, 

* Jarratt's Life, written by himself in a series of letters. 



ASBURY IN THE WINTER AND SPRING OF 1772 289 



became in its sanctified exercise a chief force in his develop- 
ment as one of the mightiest ecclesiastical chieftains, if not, 
indeed, the mightiest that has appeared in America. In the 
first weeks of his ministry here, that spirit was not suffi- 
ciently controlled by the wisdom which guided it in Asbury's 
later life. Thirty years subsequently, just after he had held 
a Conference in New York, Bishop Asbury uttered the fol- 
lowing words which are applicable here : " Ah ! the half is 
not told of the passions, parties, hopes, and fears of the best 
of men through ignorance and mistake." * 

Asbury kept himself in the cities and the regions adjacent 
for some time. In itinerating considerably about New York 
and Philadelphia for several months after his arrival, he 
labored chiefly in places where the ground had already been 
broken by Webb, Pilmoor, and Williams, and probably also by 
Boardman. In the fall of 1771, and in the winter following, 
he preached in West Chester, East Chester, West Farms, New 
Bochelle, Bye, Mamaroneck, Staten Island, Amboy, Spots- 
wood, and Burlington, and in the spring of 1772 he preached 
at New Castle, Wilmington, Chester, Greenwich, Trenton, 
etc. In most of these places, and in others besides, Pilmoor 
had preached in advance of Asbury's arrival, and so probably 
had Boardman. In April, 1772, Asbury reached Bohemia 
Manor, in the northern part of Maryland, but he quickly 
turned northward, and in five days he was back in Philadel- 
phia. Wliile in Maryland he said, " I have had serious 
thoughts of going to Baltimore ; but the distance, which is 
ninety miles, seems too much at present." He did not go to 
Baltimore until he had been in America more than a year. 

Asbury apparently did not attain to any notable degree of 
popularity in New York or Philadelphia at the beginning of 
his ministry in those cities. His autograph letters written 
soon after his coming show, in comparison with original 
epistles written by Boardman and Pilmoor near to the same 
time, that in culture he was inferior to his predecessors. He 
did not possess the eloquence of Pilmoor, and probably he 
was surpassed by Boardman in the pulpit. He, however, 

* Asbury's Journal, VoL III., p. 69. 



290 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



was studious, and increased his store of knowledge and, no 
doubt, improved his preaching. Mr. Snethen said of Asbury : 
" When we deduct the time taken up in travelling and preach- 
ing and superintending the general work, and those intervals 
when acute or chronic disease disqualified him for study, we 
are led to wonder when he could have found time to improve 
his mind, but improve it he certainly did, and in no common 
degree." More than twenty years after he began his American 
ministry his close and trusted friend, John Dickens, while 
defending him against the aspersions that had been cast upon 
him by William Hammett, said : " If Mr. Asbury sought the 
applause of men, and was jealous lest others should eclipse 
him in a public character, he never would have, as he of ttimes 
has, permitted preachers to travel with him for weeks and 
months together, who have far exceeded him in the judgment 
of the populace as public speakers." * Asbury's greatness 
chiefly lay in his capacity for developing, leading, and govern- 
ing the Methodist itinerant forces in America. His vigorous 
intellect, deep devotion to the cause, and his unfailing re- 
ligious ardor and enthusiasm made him also an impressive 
and a successful preacher, notwithstanding several of his 
early American co-laborers surpassed him in rhetorical skill 
and vocal expression. 

The Kev. Nicholas Snethen was one of Asbury's travelling 
companions and was called his " silver trumpet." Snethen 
preached and published a memorial sermon on Bishop Asbury 
after his death, in which he thus portrayed him : " If the 
saying ' he was born to govern ' is true of any human being 
it might be truly applied to him. Those with whom he came 
in contact could not but feel the authority of his spirit. His 
talent was almost v wholly executive. In a judicial or legis- 
lative capacity he seemed not to excel. It cannot be con- 
cealed that he was not incapable of the exercise of that awful 
attribute of power, hard-heartedness, to those individuals, 
feelings and interests which seemed to oppose the execution 
of public plans. Constantly in the habit of making the 

* Friendly Remarks on the Proceedings of the Rev. Mr. Hammett. to which 
is annexed a letter addressed to himself. By John Dickins. Philadelphia, 1792. 



NICHOLAS SXETHEN'S SEKMON ON ASBUIIY 291 



greatest personal sacrifices to the public good, his mind would 
not balance between the obligations of duty and the accom- 
modation or convenience of others. He was a vigilant ruler 
or overseer. He neither slumbered nor slept upon his post. 
His was the mind to discern and the will to command. As 
the result of much careful and even critical investigation our 
judgment is deliberately made up, and we do not hesitate to 
declare that so far as good intentions, good motives, and good 
endeavors could make him such, he was a good bishop." 

Asbury could not conceal his constitutional traits, some 
of which, perhaps, were infirmities, and at times obscured in 
a degree his exalted character. His love and practice of 
whatsoever things are pure, true, lovely, and of good report, 
and his ceaseless devotion to prayer, developed him into lowly 
and yet lofty saintship. He was a great Christian. This was 
the uniform testimony of his closest intimates. In his memo- 
rial sermon on Asbury, preached in 1816, Nicholas Snethen 
said : " Of all the missionaries Mr. Wesley sent to this country, 
might we not admit that the young Francis Asbury may have 
been the most ambitious ? What are the fruits and effects of 
it? Has it not enabled him to bear the burden and heat of 
the day ? Has it not enabled him to labor more abundantly 
than all his fellow-missionaries ? If the tree is to be known 
by its fruits, or a principle by its consequences, may we not 
infer that an ambition productive of such effects could not 
have been of a criminal nature ? 

" He was made good by the grace of God. His religion 
was evangelical and experimental. His repentance was not 
confined to the practice of sin, but extended to the nature and 
principle of it, which the pure and holy law of God disclosed 
to his view in his fallen spirit. His faith was saving; his 
confidence in the Redeemer of his soul was strong, steady, 
and unshaken. He was born of God and received the Spirit 
of adoption, which bore witness with his spirit that he was a 
child of God. Grace wrought effectually in him both to will 
and to do. Much of his clearness of perception and expres- 
sion, for which he was remarkable on the subject of an experi- 
mental religion, proceeded from the strong and distinct con- 
20 



292 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



sciousness he had of the work of God in his own soul. His 
experience was as temperate as it was pure. In his utmost 
fervor he showed no symptoms of wildness, nor flightiness of 
imagination. 

" He seemed to know the first bounds of religious feeling 
and to possess ability to keep within them. Though the sub- 
ject of experience made a part of all his discourses, and he 
was charitable almost to excess of the experience of others, he 
rarely, if ever, dwelt upon the peculiar workings of his own 
heart. Never, perhaps, has religious experience appeared in 
any individual less liable to exception, or challenged more 
universal confidence. Who that knew the man ever doubted 
the reality and sincerity of his experience ? He was morally 
good. His religion was practical ; he walked worthy of the 
vocation wherewith he was called ; his conversation was such 
as becometh the Gospel. He was blameless and harmless of 
the vices and follies of the age in which he lived. He was 
temperate in all things, in meat, drink, and apparel; not 
greedy of filthy lucre ; not a lover of money ; not a lover of 
this world ; not proud. In regard to his passions, neither his 
friends nor his enemies had cause for pity or reproach. There 
is reason to believe that at an early period, like a man of 
God, he submitted to the admonition, ' Flee also youthful 
lusts.' In manners he showed an uncorruptness, sincerity, 
gravity ; he was an example to the believers in word, in con- 
versation, in spirit. There was a manliness about his morality 
which gave it a peculiar fitness to his profession and station. 
Nothing seemed squeamish or sickly in his whole moral 
temperament. So strong and distinct were the features of his 
moral character that it was almost hazardous to attempt a 
description of them. They possessed the identity of the man. 
His practical religion was like a luminous path shining 
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. 

" In devotion he affected no concealment ; he was pro- 
fessedly and habitually devout. In this part of his character 
there was nothing doubtful. Devotion raised him above him- 
self and obscured his infirmities. His prayers on all occa- 
sions, in the estimation of his friends, exceeded any compo- 



NICHOLAS SNETHEN'S SERMON ON ASBURY 293 



sitions of the kind they had ever heard or read. While they 
had all the perspicuity of studied, written discourse, they 
seemed to possess the fitness of inspiration to the persons 
and the subject for whom they were offered up. Those who 
heard him daily were surprised and delighted with his seem- 
ingly inexhaustible fund of devotional matter. It is difficult 
to conceive how any man could come up nearer to that pre- 
cept 'Pray without ceasing.' 

" When the toilsome season of the annual Conferences 
was over, and he entered upon the daily course of travelling 
and preaching, with a tolerable state of health, his friends 
found him all that they wished him to be. As a road com- 
panion no man could be more agreeable ; he was cheerful 
almost to gayety ; his conversation was sprightly, and suffi- 
ciently seasoned with wit and anecdote. His manners and 
disposition in every family were all suavity and sweetness. 
The light of goodness seemed to shine around him ; the eyes 
of all that saw him helped him ; the young and the old emu- 
lated each other in showing him tokens of respect and love. 
These were seasons sacred to peace and happiness, to love 
and friendship — when piety, purity, and humility consecrated 
the heart for their enjoyment. It was on one of these pleasing 
occasions, at the house of one of the members of a family who 
had long been dear to him, in an evening party, that we recol- 
lect to have heard one of his most happy effusions from ' They 
shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run and not 
be weary ; they shall walk and not faint.' The easy and sub- 
lime flight of that majestic bird was no unfit emblem of the 
operations of his genius and piety in that charming discourse. 

" Not only did he enliven these social intercourses with his 
sermons, his prayers, and his conversations, but with psalms 
and hymns and spiritual songs, which his fine voice, together 
with the grace of his heart, rendered peculiarly attractive. 
How often has he made these lines thrill through our heart : 

" 1 Far above the glorious ceiling 
Of yon azure-vaulted sky 
Jesus sits, his love revealing 
To his splendid troops on high.' 



294 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



And again : 

" ' I cannot, I cannot forbear 

These passionate longings for home ; 
O when will my spirit be there ? 

O when will the messenger come ? ' 

"The bishop may be forgotten, or faintly remembered, 
but evergreens will grow and bloom perennially around the 
memory of the man, the Christian, and the able minister of 
the New Testament. 

" He was a good preacher ; he was a better preacher than 
he was generally supposed to be. The extent of his pulpit 
resources was not generally known. No one could know 
them who was not in the habit of hearing him daily. He 
was master of the science of his profession. He knew the 
original languages of his Bible. His mind was stored with 
the opinions of the most eminent Biblical critics and com- 
mentators. He was mighty in the Scriptures, a workman 
that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of 
truth. He was what is called an orthodox preacher ; his 
faith in the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ never wavered. 
He held fast the form of sound words that was delivered unto 
him. He was a practical preacher, never metaphysical or 
speculative ; never wild and visionary ; never whining and 
fastidious. No exception would be taken to the general 
purity and dignity of his language. His enunciation was ex- 
cellent. ' The clear and mellow bass of his deep voice ' never 
failed him. In this respect he appeared to peculiar advan- 
tage, not only in the pulpit, but in the execution of the func- 
tions of his office. Who ever heard him in the office of 
ordination say ' Take thou authority,' that did not feel the 
authority of his voice ? 

" But though his pulpit exhibitions were the admiration 
and delight of those who heard him the most frequently, yet 
it must be admitted that he was not in general so edifying 
to strangers. This was owing in part to his laconic and sen- 
tentious style, and the frequent concealment of his method, 
and in part also to his impatience of minuteness and detail, 



NICHOLAS SNETHEN 5 S DELINEATION OF ASBUKY 295 

which was always heightened by the pressure of disease. He 
belonged to that class of teachers who are said to wear well ; 
the oftener they are heard the better they are liked." 

Such was Francis Asbury, the beginning of whose great 
career as the foremost character and chieftain of American 
Methodism we have just contemplated. The delineation of 
his character by Nicholas Snethen is probably the most 
accurate and just that has been drawn by any pen. Mr. 
Snethen was his travelling companion in the closing part of 
the eighteenth and in the early part of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, when Asbury was about midway between fifty and sixty 
years of age, and thus Snethen had opportunity to hear him 
often, to converse freely with him, and to study him day by 
day. 



CHAPTEK XIY. 



FROM ASBURY'S ARRIVAL UNTIL THE DEPARTURE OF PILMOOR TO 

THE SOUTH. 

After the arrival of Asbury and Wright, Pilmoor con- 
tinued his labors in Philadelphia until the 23d of the ensuing 
December. Slavery in the society was brought specially 
to his notice after his Sunday morning sermon, November 
10, 1771, by a letter from a colored man that was delivered 
to him. In part it ran thus : " These lines are to acquaint 
you that my bondage is such I cannot possibly attend with 
the rest of the class to receive my ticket ; therefore beg that 
you will send it. I wanted much to come to the church 
at the watch-night, but could not get leave. But I bless 
God that I was greatly favored with the spirit of prayer, and 
enjoyed much of the divine presence. I find the enemy of 
my soul continually trying to throw me off the foundation, 
but I have that within me which bids defiance to his de- 
lusive snares. I beg an interest in your prayers that I may 
be able to bear up under all my difficulties with patient res- 
ignation to the will of God." Only a few thousand negroes 
were at any time held in bondage in Pennsylvania. A con- 
siderable part of those probably were in Philadelphia, which 
was then the largest city on the continent and the centre 
of the wealth, commerce, and luxury of Pennsylvania. It is 
apparent that, as was the case in New York, slaves were 
included in the Philadelphia Methodist Society from a very 
early period. " It must be recorded to the lasting honor of 
Pennsylvania that she was the first of the thirteen colonies 
to abolish slavery. This was done, under the administration 
of President Eeed, in 1780." 

Pilmoor, having long desired to preach at Germantown, 



GREAT CONGREGATIONS AND POWERFUL PREACHING 297 



rode thither and preached at two o'clock on Sunday after- 
noon, November 10, 1771. "A fine congregation received 
the word as from the Lord." In the evening he preached 
" to a prodigious crowd " in Philadelphia, when " our hearts," 
he says, " were bowed before Jehovah while I explained and 
enforced, ' Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such 
things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, 
without spot, and blameless.' What an awful thought is 
this ! A flaming world. Dissolving elements. The Lord 
descending from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the 
Archangel and the trump of God. Rocks rending ! Graves 
opening ! The dead rising ! Ten thousand worlds assem- 
bling before the Son of Man ! " 

This sermon was not unfruitful. The preacher informs 
us that two days after its delivery two ladies visited him, who 
told him that they were educated Roman Catholics, but had 
been greatly alarmed in hearing the discourse. The follow- 
ing Sunday, November 17th, he preached in the city in the 
morning, and then proceeded to Chestnut Hill, where he 
preached in a wood " to a vast concourse gathered from all 
quarters." Pilmoor's popularity in Philadelphia was attested 
by the serious crowds that assembled to hear him. On this 
same Sunday he asserted that he had preached " many hun- 
dreds of sermons in this city, yet the people are as eager to 
hear as ever. I am fully assured by undeniable fact that the 
longer I stay among them, the more numerous are the con- 
gregations and the more deeply serious." He enjoyed preach- 
ing in Philadelphia, and sometimes felt a decided repugnance 
to tearing himself away. He did not believe that removals 
at short intervals were helpful to the work, but on the con- 
trary he says, " I find constant changes are upon the whole 
hurtful in this city as well as in New York." He and Board- 
man did not exchange fields after their arrival for five 
months, but afterward they exchanged six times in fifteen 
months before the arrival of Asbury. Pilmoor spent two 
years in his last circuit before he came over the Atlantic, 
and why such an extreme form of the itinerancy should have 
been practised by him and Boardman here is not clearly 



298 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

apparent. Notwithstanding the frequent removal of the 
preachers from one city to the other tlieir labors were fruit- 
ful. Pilmoor found, from numerous conversations with prin- 
cipal citizens late in the fall of 1771, that they were heartily 
friendly to the Wesleyan cause. "They now believe our 
design is good," he says, " and are therefore glad to encour- 
age us. While we continue to walk prudently there is no 
doubt but that we shall do well in Philadelphia." 

Pilmoor was attentive to all the departments of his charge. 
On the eighteenth of November he gave the forenoon to visit- 
ing the sick, which he says " is very profitable employment 
for a minister " ; the same day he gave attention to pastoral 
discipline by " examining into the character of one of the 
society who had been accused of immorality." His method 
was to bring "the persons face to face." He found "there 
was nothing but a general charge without foundation." The 
same day he admitted two members into the society, and had 
the two Catholic ladies who shortly before had visited him, 
speak with him again. 

The first Sunday of December, 1771, Pilmoor preached in 
Philadelphia and also in the Lutheran Church at German- 
town. Two days later he " dined in company with a Lutheran 
minister who is a choice man of God and zealous for the ad- 
vancement of true religion in the world." Pilmoor had suf- 
fered " great anxiety on account of hearing nothing from Mr. 
Boardman." On the ninth of the above-named month he 
received a letter from New York which informed him that 
Boardman had decided upon another exchange. While he 
was rejoiced to hear from his colleague, he wondered why he 
should wish to change in the winter, although the previous 
winter they exchanged when Pilmoor had his hard winter 
journey to Philadelphia. Probably he thought that a repeti- 
tion of such a journey was not desirable, nor, if not neces- 
sary, allowable. " I submit," he says, " and I hope God will 
give me patience under this and every trial I meet with in the 
discharge of my duty." The next day Mr. Harris started for 
New York in a chaise to convey Boardman to Philadelphia. 
On the eighteenth of December Pilmoor saw many persons 



pilmoor' s aversion to unnecessary exchanges 299 

from the country who desired him to visit them. "The 
longer I stay here," he says, " the more the work is laid out 
for me. God is opening a great and effectual door for his 
gospel, and the dear people in all parts where I go are eagerly 
desirous of hearing the word of life." Three days later he 
was visited by some young Quakers, and was gratified that 
he had an opportunity " of conversing freely with them of the 
things of God." Boardman arrived in Philadelphia on the 
twenty-first of December, 1771, just before the hour for 
preaching, and, says Pilmoor, "we concluded the day together 
in peace." 

The next morning (Sunday) Pilmoor went to White Marsh 
in disagreeable weather and over very bad roads, where he 
preached to a congregation that fully filled the church. Ee- 
turning the same day to Philadelphia he at six o'clock 
preached his " farewell sermon." He did not in this instance 
enjoy that radical form of itinerancy to which he was subject. 
His removal from Philadelphia when his usefulness there and 
in the adjacent regions was so manifest did not accord with 
his heart nor his judgment. Of this he writes, " The people 
in general receive my message as from God, and my way is 
perfectly open and clear. At present I have a most delight- 
ful prospect of doing good, not only in the city, but also in 
all the country round about, as the churches of Episcopalians, 
Lutherans, Swedes, and Presbyterians are open to me, and 
vast multitudes attend the word and seem to embrace it ; yet, 
I must go and leave them. Mr. Boardman wants to be here, 
and I must submit. This is rather trying, not to leave this 
place, but to leave the work at this time, when God is so 
manifestly working by me. However, it is not my doing. I 
hope it will not be laid to my charge. May God give his 
blessing to my dear fellow laborer, and crown him with more 
abundant success." Notwithstanding Pilmoor did not always 
enjoy Boardman's plan of frequent exchanges, he did not 
refuse compliance when his superior in office insisted upon 
making them, and they preserved throughout their peaceful 
and affectionate relations. 

Pilmoor departed for New York December 23, 1771. " As 



300 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Mr. Boardman was so urgent," lie says, " I went to two or 
three places to take leave of my friends, and about two 
o'clock left Philadelphia. Several of my select friends were 
a good deal dissatisfied at the manner in which I was hurried 
away, and resolved to accompany me as far as Burlington. 
They hired a coach, and Messrs. Wallace, Dowers, Salter, and 
Coates set off with me for Bristol, and we got to Burlington 
just in time to preach. The congregation was large and 
deeply serious." 

The farewells were spoken the next day ; Pilmoor's friends 
returned in the coach to Philadelphia, and he on a hired horse 
rode forward to New York. The frost on this twenty-fourth 
of December was the sharpest he had ever known. He 
graphically describes his winter journey : " I was in the ut- 
most danger of being frozen, and was obliged to run on foot 
to prevent it. And even then my fingers would frequently 
freeze so as to lose all their sensibility. The only method in 
my power was to rub them upon my clothes with all the force 
I had to bring them life, and to prevent losing the use of my 
hands. As I wanted, If possible, to be in New York on 
Christmas day, I pushed forward as fast as I could, and rode 
a good while in the night. As the road was very intricate, 
and having no guide, I lost my way. After I had travelled 
some time in uncertainty it was strongly impressed upon my 
mind to return to the place where the roads divided and take 
the other road, which I did and pursued it till it brought me 
to a house, which to my great comfort was an inn. So I 
took up my abode for the night. After a little refreshment I 
proposed family prayer, to which they readily consented, and 
God gave me uncommon freedom to wrestle with him for 
their salvation." 

He passed a memorable night. It was such as those re- 
member who have gone through severe winters in northern 
New Jersey. " The night," he says, " was bitter cold. I was 
glad to have a very large fire in my room ; took the clothes 
off another bed and likewise my own wearing apparel and 
spread them all over me. Yet it was with some difficulty I 
weathered out the night." 



NEW YORK METHODISTS WRITE TO WESLEY 301 

Pilmoor renewed his " difficult and dangerous journey " 
the next day, which was the Christmas of 1771, and arrived 
safe in New York about five o'clock. " This," he declares, 
" has been one of the most distressing journeys of my life 
on account of the cold." 

Indications of trouble now appear. Pilmoor wrote the 
day after his arrival that " as some disaffected persons had 
insinuated I should meet with a cold reception in New York, 
my friends made a point of showing themselves, so that I 
never met with so kind a reception before." We get a further 
glimpse of the ruffled waters on the last day of 1771. In the 
afternoon Pilmoor had Messrs. K. Sause, C. White, and M. 
Molloy to speak with him about certain letters they had 
written to London and Dublin concerning Boardman and 
himself. "They all denied," says Pilmoor, that "they had 
written the words which Mr. Wesley had transmitted to us. 
So we concluded to drop the matter and bury all past griev- 
ances." This episode shows that the American Methodists 
held intercourse by correspondence with their great founder. 

A regular watch-night was observed in New York, at 
which both Pilmoor and Asbury spoke. The latter had just 
returned from a preaching tour on Staten Island. The only 
reference made by him to the watch-meeting is in the follow- 
ing sentence: "We have been favored here with a very 
solemn watch-night : many felt the power of God." Pilmoor 
informs us that this watch-meeting began at eight o'clock. 
"The Lord," he says, "enabled me to speak strong and 
solemn words on ' Thou art weighed in the balances and art 
found wanting.' As I exerted myself rather too much I was 
very unwell while Mr. Asbury was speaking." A little after 
eleven o'clock Pilmoor again spoke and they continued till 
midnight, " according to our custom, to conclude the old and 
begin the neiv year in the worship of God." 

Asbury and Pilmoor were in the city of New York on 
the first day of 1772, and they each on that day made a 
diary record. The records are somewhat dissimilar. Asbury 
signalized the new year by inscribing this passage in his 
Journal : "I find that the preachers have their friends in the 



302 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



cities and care not to leave them. There is a strange party 
spirit. For my part I desire to be faithful to God and man." 
Pilmoor on the same day and in the same place wrote in his 
Journal these reflections and aspirations : "I am now entered 
upon another year. How swift the seasons roll ! My time 
is short, and yet how much remains to be done ! O, may I 
begin with the year and devote every hour to God ! Let all 
my future life, O Lord, be thine, and all I am be forever 
given up to thee." 

Asbury does not make any allusion to Pilmoor's arrival or 
work in New York, in this winter time of 1772, except to re- 
mark that he was ill. With Mr. Sause, Asbury left the city for 
West Farms on the third of January, and he preached there 
that night. Pilmoor recorded in his Journal on the same day 
this statement : " Mr. Asbury set off for the country and I 
resolved to lay myself out for the salvation of the citizens." 
That day " at twelve o'clock," he adds, " we had a blessing 
from God at the intercession." It thus appears that this 
meeting was held at noon here as it was in Europe. A cold 
day was the first Sunday of the year 1772, but there was 
warmth in John Street. " Notwithstanding the cold we had 
a fine congregation in the morning," says Pilmoor, " and our 
labor was not in vain in the Lord. At night we had a very full 
chapel and God enabled me to speak with power." On Mon- 
day he was employed in study in visiting the people at their 
homes and in writing to his friends in Europe. He "was 
greatly blest in conversation, and in meditation on the word 
of God," the following day. He asserts that " as the streets 
were almost covered with ice, so that no one could venture 
out without danger, I was surprised to find more than four 
hundred persons in the chapel in the evening. I preached 
on that fine description of the Supreme authority of Christ : 
' He hath the Key of David ; he openeth and no man shut- 
teth ; he shutteth and no man openeth.' " 

Pilmoor now turned his face to the country, and on 
January 8th we find him with Henry Newton at one of his 
former preaching places, namely, Newtown. " In crossing the 
river," he says, " we were in great danger from the ice, but 



FROST AND FERVOR IN NEW YORK 



303 



we got safely over, and about noon found a fine company 
waiting for us. I began immediately and preached Christ 
Jesus the Lord. Afterward turned back and preached in the 
city at night." 

Despite the rigidity of the winter the preacher enjoyed 
very encouraging tokens in New York. The frost on the 
second Sunday of January " was so sharp that it was very 
difficult for the people to venture out ; yet," he says, " we 
had a fine congregation both morning and evening. The 
New Yorkers are so disposed for hearing the Gospel that they 
easily break through all difficulties and flock to the churches 
like doves to their windows." The day afterward he had, he 
tells us, " a comfortable morning in my studies. The rest of 
the day I spent in giving advice to those that called on me 
for direction, and visiting the sick." He was at a sick- 
bed, perhaps a death-bed, where he witnessed the triumph 
of a Christain believer. " I was much comforted," he writes, 
" in being with one of the Methodists who seemed on the 
borders of the eternal world, but death has lost all his terror 
and the grave its victory." Pilmoor went " from family to 
family the ensuing Thursday to spend the day in prayer and 
praise," and "found it profitable." A day of delightful re- 
freshing in New York was the third Sunday of January, 1772. 
" My heavenly Master was with us this day," Pilmoor de- 
clares. " He greatly comforted my heart in the morning- 
preaching. But in the evening I had indeed the Kingdom of 
heaven within me. The chapel was crowded with attentive 
hearers. A solemn awe sat upon every countenance and 
many besides myself seemed to feel the ' o'erwhelming power 
of saving grace.' In that blest hour my wondering soul was 
ready to say with Peter : ' Lord it is good for us to be here.' " 
The ministry of Pilmoor was attended by very large con- 
gregations in New York and Philadelphia, and the people 
were not only interested, but often deeply moved in hearing 
him preach. 

He gladly embraced an opportunity of preaching in the 
jail on the first of February. Many of the prisoners, including 
a young man under sentence of death, attended the service. 



304 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



" As these," says Pilmoor, " could have no cloak for their sins, 
nor anything to plead but guilty, I explained, 1 Whom God 
hath set forth to be a propitiation for sin,' etc. The word 
seemed to pierce their souls and the citizens who had been ad- 
mitted were likewise greatly affected. After preaching I had 
much conversation with the criminal and God enabled me to 
plead with him in prayer for the life of his precious soul." 

During the time that Pilmoor was thus toiling in the city, 
Asbury was continuing his preaching tour in the adjacent 
regions. He preached at West Chester to " only a few," and at 
several other places, including Mamaroneck, East Chester, 
New City Island, New Rochelle, and Rye. At the latter place 
he found the people "insensible." They cry, "The Church! 
the Church ! " he says ; " there are a few Presbyterians, but 
they have suffered their meeting-house to go to ruin and 
have lost the power of religion if they ever had it." During 
the latter part of January he was quite ill in the country, 
but received kind and thoughtful care, day and night, from 
the parents and children of the family that entertained him. 
He returned to New York in a sleigh the eighth of February. 

He was yet weak in body on the following Sunday, "but," 
he says, " Brother Pilmoor being ill I preached in New York 
in the morning and found life." Pilmoor mentions his own 
illness at this time and says " the severe cold I catched 
some time ago increased upon me so much that I was not 
able to preach. However, it happened in a very good time, 
as Mr. Asbury is just arrived from the country, so that the 
congregration will not be disappointed." Asbury caught 
cold walking in the city and returned to his lodgings chilled 
and very ill. " The sickness kept me at home," he says, 
" above a week." Pilmoor refers to the recurrence of the ill- 
ness of Asbury thus : " Mr. Asbury was taken ill and obliged 
to keep his room. I felt my heart affected with gratitude to 
God for raising me up in time to attend on my friend." 

Two gentlemen from Philadelphia arrived on February fif- 
teenth, who had come to New York to visit Pilmoor. " They 
are rightly called Philadelphians," he exclaims, " for they do 
truly abound with brotherly love." At this time that invari- 



PILMOOR MINISTERS AT AN EXECUTION 



305 



able accompaniment of a term of cold weather, namely, ice, 
was in New York, and proved an obstacle to the public meet- 
ings. " All the streets were like glass," on the afternoon of 
February 17, 1772, says Pilmoor, " so that our evening con- 
gregation was but small. However, the Lord gave us his 
blessing." 

Asbury left the city on the twentieth of February, 1772, 
for Staten Island, where he spent a week, preaching at Van 
Pelt's, Justice Wright's, and elsewhere. "Some," he says, 
" had not heard a sermon for half a year — such a famine 
there is of the word in these parts, and a still greater one of 
the pure word." During the week of Asbury's absence Pil- 
moor completed his term in New York. 

He attended the execution on the twenty-first of a pris- 
oner whom he had visited. A large part of the population 
turned out to witness the tragic spectacle. It afforded an in- 
stance of the devotion of the primitive preachers of Method- 
ism to the work of saving the lost. Just before the doomed 
man suffered, " his answers," says Pilmoor, " afforded me hope 
that God would yet appear for him and deliver him before 
he left the body. As we were walking down the stairs together 
he again repeated his desire to have me with him at the 
place of execution. As I had given him a kind of condi- 
tional promise some time before I dared not draw back, 
though I would gladly have been excused. When the cart 
came to the gallows I stepped up to him. I gave out the 
fifty-first psalm. The sheriff gave me liberty to pray. 
Above seven thousand persons stood all around me. A great 
multitude of them were deeply affected while I called upon 
the Lord, and entreated him to have mercy upon the dying 
man, and likewise on all poor ruined sinners. I then took 
leave of him and came down from the cart." 

This painful service Pilmoor regarded as affecting favor- 
ably through its influence on the public mind the interests of 
Methodism. " My attendance on the poor man who died 
this day," he writes, "has been of infinite service to the cause 
in which I am engaged. Many thousands heard me in the 
fields who would never have come to the chapel, and were 



306 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

highly satisfied that I went with him to the tree, when all 
the ministers in the city had forsaken him." The next Sab- 
bath after this distressing episode in Pilmoor's New York 
ministry, there was an " excellent congregation in the morn- 
ing, and all the people seemed serious," he says, " while I 
exhorted them to ' lay aside every weight,' etc. In the even- 
ing the chapel could not contain the congregation. Many 
were obliged to stand in the yard while I preached free salva- 
tion to sinners through the blood of the Lamb." He finished 
his visitation of the classes on that day and he had "great 
cause of rejoicing on their account. There are," he declares, 
" many living witnesses of free salvation in the society and 
all in general walk worthy of their profession." The work in 
the city still advanced, and on Monday, February 24, 1772, 
"I had many to speak with me," says Pilmoor, "about the 
state of their souls, some of whom I admitted into the 
society." 

The time of his departure to Philadelphia is at hand. His 
term in New York at this time was scarcely two days over 
two months. Though reinforced by Asbury and Wright, 
Boardman and Pilmoor continued to labor in the two cities,but 
their exchanges became more frequent. Pilmoor states that 
on the 26th of February he " was busy all day taking leave 
of my dear friends and preparing for my journey to Philadel- 
phia. The people were very unwilling to part, but we must 
submit to the government we are under, and do all in our 
power to promote the work at large." 

He began his journey to the Quaker City with Mr. John 
Dowers, the twenty-seventh of February, 1772. " Many of the 
dear New Yorkers," he says, " accompanied me to the water- 
side, where we took the boat for Amboy." Asbury returned 
to the city the same day and says, "I found brother Pilmoor 
had set off for Philadelphia in the morning." 

As the boat was approaching the Jersey shore at Amboy, 
and the people were paying their fares, there was one pas- 
senger without means to pay. Pilmoor proposed a collection, 
and says, " We promptly raised him money enough to help 
him on his journey." The preacher took the stage early next 



PILMOOR AT BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY 307 

morning, and after a ride of fifty miles lie came, weary, to Bur- 
lington on Friday night. There he remained for a short sea- 
son. He preached in Burlington on the parable of the ten 
virgins on Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning, March 
first, in the same town, he expounded the parable of the 
talents. He dined with Dr. Smith, " where," he says, " I met 
with several pious and agreeable Quakers who are all par- 
takers of the same spirit, and know that Jesus is to all be- 
lievers the centre of union and life. Afterward I visited the 
jail and took some pains to open to the prisoners the plan of 
salvation. The criminals wept much. At prayer my heart 
was greatly enlarged. At night the court-house was as full as 
it could hold. I expounded the latter part of the twenty- 
fifth of St. Matthew. When I had done a young man came 
to speak with me, whose heart was deeply affected under the 
word and he wept. I encouraged him to look unto the Lord 
and have no doubt his sorrow will soon be turned into joy." 

His friend, "William White, drove Pilmoor to Cooper's 
Ferry the next afternoon, and on his arrival at Philadelphia 
he found that Boardman was still there. Both preachers 
continued for several days " in Philadelphia and had plenty 
of work." 

Captain Webb was expected at the morning service in St. 
George's on Sunday, the eighth of March, but as he did not 
arrive, Pilmoor preached. He also preached at ten o'clock 
at the Bettering House to a large congregation, "and the 
word of the Lord was quick and powerful." " In the even- 
ing," he says, " our own church was as full as it could hold, 
and we had a solemn, refreshing season." 

He remained only twelve days in Philadelphia, when he 
returned to New York. Why his stay was so brief does not 
appear. He and Boardman had decided to make their ex- 
tended journeys, which were soon to begin ; and it may have 
seemed to them desirable that Pilmoor should spend another 
season in New York before his departure to the South. 
Within three weeks after Pilmoor left Philadelphia. Asbury 
was again in that city, and there, April 2, 1772, he received 

from Boardman the information that he had planned for 
21 



308 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



himself to go to Boston, Pilmoor to Virginia, Wright to 
New York, and for Asbury to stay three months in Phila- 
delphia. " With this," says the latter, " I was well pleased." 
It thus appears that Mr. Asbury was willing to labor in the 
city, and also that Mr. Wright should do likewise. 

There is a blank in Asbury's Journal for almost a month 
after Pilmoor's departure from New York, in the latter end 
of February, 1772. Therefore we do not know what he then 
did. When Pilmoor returned to New York, on the 17th of 
March, he found that Asbury had gone from that city. We 
find Asbury in that month at South Amboy, New Jersey, 
where he preached, and on the twenty-seventh he "set off 
on a rough -gaited horse for Burlington." He preached in 
the court-house in that town two days later to many hearers, 
and the next day in a Baptist meeting-house at New Mills 
(Pemberton). He returned to Burlington the following day, 
and the day next ensuing, April 2, 1772, he reached Phila- 
delphia and was much comforted in finding there Boardman 
and Captain Webb. 

Of the labors of Richard Wright from his arrival until the 
spring of 1772 we know but little. Robert Williams was in 
Philadelphia late in the fall of 1771, and Wright left that 
city with him for Delaware. Pilmoor says that on November 
11th " Mr. Williams and Mr. Wright set off for Wilmington, 
and I was left alone in Philadelphia." It appears from 
Asbury's reference to Wright that he was " left at his own 
discretion." Asbury started for Wilmington in the following 
April, expecting to find Wright there, but they accidentally 
met about four miles from the town." The allusion by As- 
bury to Bohemia in the same connection would indicate that 
Wright had been there also. Bohemia Manor was in the 
southern part of Cecil County, Maryland, and it is said that 
Wright " was very popular in the Manor and did good 
work for Methodism. That marvellous evangelist, George 
Whitefield, had preceded him there some thirty years, and the 
fruits of his eloquent and unctuous ministrations were seen 
in the hearty welcome extended to our pioneer preachers." * 

* Peninsula Methodist (Wilmington, Del.), November 15, 1890. 



PILMOOR ON HIS WAY TO NEW YORK 309 

Pilmoor " set off on horseback in company with Mr. 
Dove," from Philadelphia to New York, on Saturday, March 
14, 1772. It seems there had just been a snow-storm, and 
" as many people had been out in sleighs they had beaten 
down the road," so about five o'clock Pilmoor reached Bur- 
lington, New Jersey, and at seven he preached from the text: 
" And I of Christ." He preached again at Burlington the= 
following morning (Sunday) from the parable of the ten 
pieces of silver. Judging it to be more blessed to give than 
to receive, he, instead of going to church, preached in the 
jail " to the poor, neglected prisoners, who," he says, " were 
greatly affected under the word, and their flowing tears en- 
couraged me to hope that some of them may enter into the 
kingdom of God. About noon I went down with several of 
the friends to the water's side, hoping to find the boat for 
Bristol, but it was not there. However, we prevailed upon 
two young men to put us over upon a shallop. It was very 
dangerous crossing on account of the vast quantities of ice in 
the river, but Israel's Shepherd was with us and brought us 
safe to shore." Thence he proceeded to Trenton, New Jersey, 
where he arrived about five o'clock. " As they did not ex- 
pect me," he says, " we were obliged to send a person round 
the town to give notice, and at seven we had a very large con- 
gregation in the court-house, and many were cut to the heart." 
Thus he passed the Sunday. 

He "set off " for New Brunswick the next day, reached 
Woodbridge, and got safely to New York the day after, 
namely, March 17, 1772. " I expected," he says, "to find Mr. 
Asbury in the city, but he had gone and had given out that 
there would be no preaching before Thursday, but the people 
soon heard of my arrival and we had a lovely company in the 
evening." Within a week thereafter he had a conciliatory 
meeting with Bichard Sause. " Former animosities are fled 
away and pure friendship reigns," wrote Pilmoor. 

He now met in New York two men from the borders of New 
England, "who," he says, " entreated me to go to that country 
to preach the Gospel and think it would be gladly received." 
Thus was the way for Methodism opening in the country. 



310 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



We have recently seen evidence of extreme cold in New 
York in the winter of 1772, and now Pilmoor remarks an 
extraordinary instance of low temperature there in the 
spring of that year. He asserts that on April second and 
third " it was as cold as if it had been January. The snow 
came down in such abundance that it was with difficulty the 
people could get out of their houses, yet we had a few at the 
chapel who are determined to stop at nothing, but always at- 
tend whenever the doors are open." He soon witnessed much 
interest among the people. As the spring weather was pleas- 
ant, he, on the eighth of April, began preaching at five in 
the morning and found that many were willing to leave their 
beds for the sake of hearing the word. Indeed, he declares 
that the " citizens of New York are never weary of hearing 
the Gospel, and I believe that there are no people under the 
heaven that understand what they hear better than they." 
He had service in the morning and a meeting of the young 
people at night on Saturday, April eleventh. " The young 
people's meeting," he says, " was very refreshing." Pilmoor 
wrote a letter, the original draft of which is still in existence, 
on Thursday of this week, to Mary Thorn, of Philadelphia. 
It is full of devout sentiment. The indefatigable preacher 
says that the hearers " flocked to their chapel like doves to 
their windows on the Sunday following. Monday we had 
about three hundred hearers at five o'clock, most of whom 
seemed to worship God in spirit and in truth. Tuesday, 
after preaching in the morning, I had two women to tell me 
that God has lately spoken peace to their souls — one of them 
this morning and the other a few days ago." 

Williams, who went from Philadelphia southward in No- 
vember, 1771, and who seems to have labored during the 
winter in the South, now appears again in the North. He 
reached Philadelphia April 21, 1772, and two days later left 
that city for New York. He brought " a flaming account of 
the work " in Virginia.* He and Pilmoor are now together in 
New York again, and no doubt his representations of the 

* Asbury's Journal, Vol. I., p. 28. Wakeley erroneously says, in Lost Chapters, 
that it was Wright who came from Virginia. 



TRAVELS OF THE PREACHERS 



311 



southern field had emboldened Pilmoor to travel thither. It 
is not improbable by the facts he brought to Pilmoor's view, 
and the arguments and persuasions he may from time to 
time have employed, that Eobert Williams was instrumental 
in securing for the South a year of the ministry of Joseph 
Pilmoor. The plan for Pilmoor to go thither had been 
formed, however, prior to Williams's present visit to New 
York. Pilmoor, on the thirtieth of April, said : " Mr. Will- 
iams met the people in the morning and I began to prepare 
for my journey southward." Boardman arrived in New York 
from Philadelphia on his journey to New England on the 
first day of May, " and we were much comforted together," 
says Pilmoor. 

In the meantime Asbury had travelled from Philadelphia 
to Bohemia Manor, in Maryland. He even turned his eye 
toward Baltimore, but the distance of ninety miles deterred 
him from going there, courageous itinerant as he was. He 
met Richard Wright on April 8, 1772, about four miles from 
Wilmington. " He seemed glad to see me," says Asbury, " and 
willing to be subject to order." The next morning Wright 
proceeded to Philadelphia. It was arranged that he should 
now spend five months in New York. 

Pilmoor's eye was toward the South. The distance of 
ninety, nay a thousand, miles in a strange country did not de- 
ter him from entering upon his laborious journey toward the 
Southern provinces. He tells us that he " was totally unac- 
quainted with the people, the road, and everything else. He 
only knew," he says, " that there were multitudes of souls 
scattered through a vast extent of country, and was willing to 
encounter any difficulty and undergo the greatest hardships, 
so I might win them to Christ." The rising Wesley an 
movement in America is about to enter upon another and a 
wider stage of its development. 

Asbury is now in Philadelphia insisting upon discipline. 
He asserts, on April 25th, that he "preached to the people with 
some sharpness. In the evening I kept the door," he adds, 
" met the society and read Mr. Wesley's epistle to them." He 
intended to go from the city three days later, but was unable 



312 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



to procure a horse ; "so," he says, " I stayed and heard that 
many were offended at my shutting them out of society meet- 
ing, as they had been greatly indulged before. But this does 
not trouble me. While I stay the rules must be attended to ; 
and I cannot suffer myself to be guided by half-hearted 
Methodists." 

Four of the American Methodist preachers are now in 
New York, and on Sunday, the third of May, 1772, Pilmoor 
and Boardman, Webb and Williams were together at the com- 
munion at St. Paul's. By this interesting incident we are 
reminded that the Methodists of America at that time had 
neither ordination nor the sacraments. They were chiefly 
communicants in the Church of England. The four Wesley an 
preachers had good-fellowship in New York on the above 
Sunday, of which Pilmoor says : " This day all our meetings, 
both public and private, were attended with the presence and 
blessing of God and were very refreshing to our souls." 

The preservation until now of the historic church where 
Boardman, Pilmoor, Webb, and Williams in company received 
the Holy Communion on May 3, 1771, and in which President 
Washington attended worship on the day of his first inaugu- 
ration in 1789, is one of the remarkable facts in the history of 
the American metropolis. The square of ground on which it 
stands, bounded by Broadway, Yesey, Fulton, and Church 
Streets, is immensely valuable. Yet neither the pressure of 
commerce nor the exactions of avarice have been able to efface 
the sacred structure. It was begun in 1763 and dedicated in 
October, 1766. Therefore it has stood throughout the whole 
period of the existence of Methodism in America, and it gives 
promise of standing for many decades, not to say centuries, if 
the conservatism which has so long preserved it shall con- 
tinue to bear sway. 

In a few days Pilmoor is to turn his face toward the 
South and Williams is to move in the same direction. 
Boardman is to begin his journey to New England and 
Captain Webb is to go to old England and there obtain more 
laborers for the American field. Dr. Stevens attributes this 
wider itinerancy of the preachers to the influence of Asbury, 



^VHY PILMOOK WENT SOUTH 



313 



and says : "It was under the impulse of Asbury's example 
that Kobert Williams now went to Virginia and that Pilmoor 
went preaching southward as far as Savannah." And before 
Stevens, Dr. Bangs asserted that " in the month of April of 
this year [1772] Mr. Pilmoor, following the example of Mr. 
Asbury, travelled South through Maryland and Virginia as far 
as Norfolk." * 

Asbury at this time had not given the preachers any 
example of very extensive itinerating; nor had he gone to 
Virginia, or even far into Maryland. He had once reached 
Bohemia Manor, in the northern part of that province, but he 
informs us that he did not go to Baltimore, ninety miles 
further, on account of the distance. Williams was quite as 
adventurous and active an itinerant as Asbury, and he was in 
Virginia before any deputation of Weselyan preachers ap- 
peared in the country, he having landed from Europe at 
Norfolk and immediately opened his mission there from the 
steps of a house, and that very night led the wife of a sea- 
captain into the kingdom. He afterward went back and forth 
between New York and Maryland before Asbury touched the 
American shore. He started with Wright southward from 
Philadelphia fifteen days after Asbury and Wright landed 
there, and the following April he was back in that city, the 
bearer of a "flaming account of the work" in Virginia. The 
extended travels of Pilmoor and Boardman in 1772 do not 
seem to have been undertaken at Asbury's suggestion or from 
the "impulse " of his "example," but rather, as Pilmoor says, 
because as there were preachers to care for the cities now, 
he and Boardman decided to travel abroad that they might 
" seek the lost sheep in the wilderness." Captain Webb sailed 
for England about the time that Pilmoor began his Southern 
joiumey. He appeared at the British Conference which sat 
at Leeds the fourth of Aug., 1772, and pleaded earnestly and 
successfully before that body for more preachers for America. 

* See Dr. Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. I., p. 131, 
and Dr. Bangs' s do., Vol. I., p. 73. 



CHAPTER XV. 



PILMOOR'S JOURNEY TO MARYLAND. 

When Jesus sent forth his twelve apostles he said unto 
them, "As ye go preach." Thus also did the primitive 
Methodist preachers. Beginning his journey to the South, 
Pilmoor rode forward, preaching as he went. 

He left New York on Friday, May 8, 1772. " Many of the 
dear people accompanied me to the water's side," he says, 
" where we found a boat ready to sail for Staten Island. Mr. 
Henry Newton and I went on board, and in less than two 
hours landed safe." Pilmoor preached the same day on the 
Island at Captain Wright's. He remarks that " in the evening 
I walked with my companion to view the beauties of nature." 
He thus depicts what he saw : " The orchards are in full 
bloom and the trees in the wood look as white as virgin 
snow. The gentle breezes were laden with fragrance, the 
turtle-doves were cooing in the groves, and everything con- 
spired to inspire us with gratitude and fill us with praise to 
the God who made all things by his power and constantly 
upholds all this beauteous frame." 

He preached at the house of "a poor widow," and again 
at Captain Wright's, and on Sunday, the tenth of May, took a 
vessel and went with " many friends " to Elizabethtown Point, 
where they arrived just in time for church. He intended to 
preach in the court-house after the church service, but the 
Rev. Mr. Caldwell sent some of his elders to offer his church, 
which Pilmoor gladly accepted, and in it met a fine congre- 
gation, to whom he preached on " Them that honor me I will 
honor." The minister was one of his auditors, and says 
Pilmoor : " He treated me with the utmost civility, and in 
everything he behaved like a disciple of Christ." 



THE REV. JAMES CALDWELL, ELIZABETH, N. J. 315 



The Rev. James Caldwell, to whom Pilmoor here refers, 
was then pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth- 
town, now the city of Elizabeth, and it is still one of the 
foremost churches of that denomination in New Jersey. He 
was an eloquent preacher, a conspicuous citizen, and an 
ardent patriot. " He was one of the first who embarked in 
the cause of his country. His zeal, activity, and unshaken 
integrity under every circumstance of the Revolution are 
deeply imprinted on the minds of his countrymen. As a 
preacher of the Gospel he was excelled by very few of the 
present age."* Of him it is said that he rarely preached 
" without weeping, and at times would melt his whole audience 
to tears. He was one day preaching to the Battalion, the 
next marching with them to battle, and the next administering 
the consolations of the Gospel to some dying parishioner. His 
people were most devotedly attached to him and the army 
adored him." f Mr. Caldwell's Church was fired by a Refugee 
in 1780. A few months later his wife was shot by a Refugee 
through a " window of a room to which she had retired with 
her children for safety and prayer," and on the 24th of Novem- 
ber, 1781, Mr. Caldwell was shot dead at Elizabethtown Point 
by a soldier who it was believed was bribed to assassinate the 
devoted pastor and patriot. His name was given to, and is 
still perpetuated by, Caldwell Township in the county of 
Essex, in the State in which he labored, suffered, and died. 

On leaving Elizabeth, Pilmoor proceeded, by way of 
Woodbridge and Princeton, to Trenton. At Trenton he 
preached on May 12, 1772, and says " truly the Lord of the 
harvest was present with us." 

The next day he went " with many friends to Penny town 
[Pennington ?], about eight miles off [from Trenton], where," 
he says, " I preached in the Presbyterian Church with very 
much freedom." At three o'clock the same day he met "a 
fine company of people in the school-house at Somerset," 
and in the evening he preached at Trenton in the court- 

* The New Jersey Journal, November 28, 1781. 

t Notes, Historical and Biographical, concerning Elizabeth-Town, pp. 77-8. By- 
Nicholas Murray. 



316 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



house, "which was as full as it could hold." This day he 
had travelled much, besides preaching three times, and was 
greatly fatigued; yet after publicly preaching he met the 
Trenton Society at night, " and the Lord was so eminently 
present," he says, " that we concluded he had kept the best 
wine until now. When we rose up from prayer a poor negro 
woman came to me in great distress of soul and cast herself 
down at my feet. I raised her up and encouraged her to 
trust in the Lord, who would soon have mercy upon her and 
pardon all her offenses." 

Pilmoor was still in Trenton on the fourteenth of May, 
when at the early hour of five he preached to a great number 
of people. " About nine o'clock," he says, " the stage came 
and I went forward to Philadelphia." Finding the people 
expected preaching, and no Methodist preacher being in 
town, he " went immediately to St. George's, and was well 
rewarded by a blessing from God." 

Asbury arrived in Philadelphia the next day. In the 
evening Pilmoor preached, and the following day he " had the 
happiness of visiting several of the people." Asbury had 
been a couple of days in New Jersey, and among other places 
preached at what he calls the " New Church," which, no doubt, 
was Greenwich, and of which he says " surely the power of 
God is among this people." Returning, he speaks of Pil- 
moor being in the city, and says " the house was given up." 
" Thus ended," says Lednum, " the first parsonage in Phila- 
delphia." 

Asbury preached in St. George's on the Sunday morning 
of May seventh. Pilmoor preached in the afternoon in a 
grove at Chestnut Hill, and in the evening in the city. 

The effect of Asbury's ideas of government, which he still 
urged, are now apparent. He seems to have scattered the 
people considerably. Of the state of matters in St. George's, 
Pilmoor speaks thus : " O, what a change ! When I was 
here before the great church would hardly hold the congre- 
gation ; now it is not near full. Such is the fatal consequence 
of contending about opinions, and the administration of dis- 
cipline. It grieves me to the heart to see the people scat- 



DEPRESSION IN PHILADELPHIA METHODISM 317 



tered that we have taken such pains to gather, but I cannot 
help it without opposing the measures of Mr. Wesley's dele- 
gate, and that would breed much confusion, so I am obliged 
to go weeping away. The following days I took what pains 
I could to collect the people together. We had many good 
opportunities, both in public and private, and our hopes be- 
gan to revive. Nothing could hinder our usefulness here if 
we did but keep to our point and steadily insist upon the 
pure doctrines of the Gospel, without meddling with politics 
and opinions." 

Concerning this disturbed and depressed state of the so- 
ciety in Philadelphia, it is noticed that the same day that 
Pilmoor wrote the above description thereof Asbury said in 
his Journal : " Some slight me in this place on account of my 
attention to discipline, and some drop off." 

On Monday, May 25th, Pilmoor spent the most of the 
day in visiting the people and preached his farewell sermon. 
The church was crowded, and he preached with great free- 
dom and power. He felt closely joined with the people, and 
found it hard to part with them, especially with those whom, 
he declares, " God has given to me as seals to my ministry." 

The Philadelphia and New York Methodists had mostly 
been brought into the Wesleyan fellowship by the ministry 
of Pilmoor and Boardman. Even Rankin, who was famous 
for disciplinary rigidness, and who did not come hither till 
nearly four years after their arrival, bore testimony to 
the usefulness of Pilmoor here. When Asbury, who was 
younger and less experienced in ecclesiastical government 
than his predecessors, proposed to put an end to partiality 
for preachers by getting them out of the cities, and to enforce 
his views of discipline irrespective of consequences, it is not 
strange that opposition was aroused. Criticism and irrita- 
tion followed, and the effects became apparent in disaffected 
feeling and diminished congregations. These consequences 
Pilmoor saw, and they were also visible to Asbury. On the 
last Sunday of May, 1772, Asbury preached in St. George's, 
and "found that offenses increased. However,*' he declares, 
" I cannot help it. My way is to go straight forward and 



318 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

aim at what is right." Less than a month afterward he, in 
Philadelphia, notes that " Satan strives to sow discord among 
us, and that makes me desirous to leave the city." About 
a fortnight after this he remarked the absence of the multi- 
tude from the preaching in St. George's thus : " Our congre- 
gations here are small." The cause of the diminished num- 
bers he seems to have well understood, for he adds : " They 
cannot bear the discipline and doctrine, but this does not 
move me." 

While the immediate effect of his rigidity respecting dis- 
cipline apparently was not good, it may have proved bene- 
ficial in the end. By discipline the Methodists in this coun- 
try were welded into an invincible phalanx which, led by the 
indomitable captain who so soon caused his hand to be felt, 
moved with amazing energy, celerity, and success over the 
land. The power of an army chiefly lies in its discipline ; 
and in proportion as a Church is firmly held in disciplinary 
bonds will it achieve results ; but sternness and the rod of 
authority need not and should not be exhibited in a way to 
detract from the good which the exercise of Christian dis- 
cipline contemplates. Asbury's design was right, but his 
method, no doubt, was somewhat marred by youthful indis- 
cretion at the beginning. 

What the precise points of discipline were as to the ap- 
plication of which Asbury was so urgent is not very clear, 
except that he seems to have maintained that the society 
meetings proper should be kept free from the intrusion of 
persons who were not members ; and possibly also that 
members should be excluded who, in his judgment, were 
guilty of too much worldliness. For example, in Philadel- 
phia, June 14, 1772, he wrote that he " was grieved to see so 
much conformity to the world in the article of dress among 
our people." 

Joseph Pilmoor left Philadelphia for the South on the 
27th of May, 1772. He had, he says, "many of my dear 
Philadelphians to take leave of me, who were greatly affected 
at the thought of parting. About nine o'clock I set off, 
determined to follow my Lord wherever he should be pleased 



PILMOOR IN READING AND LEBANON, PA. 



319 



to lead me. At 12 o'clock I reached Upper Dublin, where I 
had appointed to preach. The people had prepared a kind 
of scaffold for ine to stand on and I found great liberty while 
I preached the everlasting Gospel and invited a listening 
multitude to the Lamb of God. After a little refreshment I 
hastened to Matching [Methacton], where I preached at six 
o'clock. Spent the evening with Mr. Supplee's family, and 
went to rest under the watchful care of Israel's Shepherd." 

This first day's journey with the preaching of two sermons 
was a suitable preface to the chapters of Southern Methodist 
history which Pilmoor was about to make. The second day's 
journey was over ground partially if not entirely new to 
him. " We set forward early," he writes, " and travelling 
steadily all the day we got safe into Reading. I was greatly 
surprised to find such a town above sixty miles from Phila- 
delphia. It contains about 400 families, who live in the 
greatest plenty, and what is still better, they are at unity with 
themselves. In the evening we had most of the genteel 
people of the town at the court-house, and God enabled me 
to preach the Gospel, not in word only, but also in power. 
After preaching I went to supper with James Read, Esq., who 
entertained me and my friends with the greatest hospitality, 
and we were abundantly blessed while we concluded the day 
in praise and prayer." 

He pursued his journey in company with some persons 
from Philadelphia on the twenty -eighth of May. About three 
o'clock on that day they reached Lebanon, Pennsylvania ; 
which, says Pilmoor, " is situated about 80 miles from the 
city and contains 250 inhabitants, chiefly Germans. There 
are two churches in it, one Lutheran and one Reformed or 
Presbyterian." The Presbyterian Church was opened for 
him, and by the ringing of the bell a fine congregation was 
brought out, to whom he preached that "men should repent." 
He then spent the evening with a " Mr. De Haas and his 
family in religious conversation, singing, and prayer." He 
appears to have tarried three or four days at Lebanon. While 
there he prayed for rain and an abundant shower followed, 
which he accepted as God's answer to his prayer. He 



320 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

"preached on Sunday twice with considerable freedom of 
mind, and on Monday night he had a good congregation." 
Calvinists and Lutherans attended, "and were comforted 
together in Him who is the only Saviour of all that believe." 

He went through heat to Lancaster on the second of June 
over roads that were made temporarily worse by the rain. 
" On our way," he says, " we dined at a little town called 
Mannam [probably Manheim] , where a gentleman has built a 
very large glasshouse, and they have brought their manu- 
factory to great perfection. The proprietor lives in a fine 
large house, has a large chapel upstairs with pews, pulpit, 
and an organ in it. We joined in singing a hymn and prayer, 
and our heavenly Father gave us his blessing. In the after- 
noon we rode on through a fine, pleasant country to 
Lancaster." In the court-house he preached the word with 
boldness. He feared Court would prevent preaching the 
next day, but the Court did not sit in the afternoon, and at 
six o'clock he again preached in the court-house at Lancaster 
to a small congregation, but saw "no prospect of much good." 

He completed his tour in Pennsylvania June 4, 1772. The 
man he expected to guide him to Maryland did not appear 
and he resolved " to set out alone. On the way I called at a 
little tavern for refreshment," he says, "and was told the 
landlord lay at the point of death. They begged I would 
visit him, which I readily complied with, but found him 
speechless. However, he seemed to understand what I said, 
and was affected when I commended him to God in prayer." 
Pilmoor then proceeded to a ferry where the river was "about 
a mile and a quarter broad." There he crossed the Susque- 
hanna, which afterward his countryman, Campbell, celebrated 
in mellifluous verse. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



BOARDMAN IN BOSTON AND WRIGHT IN NEW YORK. 

Richard Boardman left Philadelphia in April, 1772, for 
New England. On the evening of the 28th of April he 
preached at Burlington, New Jersey, and a certain doctor, 
a man of dissipation, was touched under the sermon.* He 
arrived in New York City on the first day of May, 1772. 
Pilmoor noted his arrival and said that Boardman was on 
" his journey towards the North." It is probable that he went 
by the way of Newport or Providence by vessel. We have 
seen that on May 8, 1772, Pilmoor left New York for the 
South. Six days later the following entry appears in the 
treasurer's book of the John Street Society: " 1772 May 14, 
To cash paid [for] Mr. Richard Boardman's passage to Rhode 
Island, IX 9s." 

There is no extant record of Boardman's travels in New 
England. Lee, in his " History of the Methodists " (page 14), 
asserts that Boardman " went as far to the North as Boston," 
but does not speak of anything he did there. Freeborn 
Garrettson, on his return from his mission in Nova Scotia, in 
the spring of 1787, stopped a short time in Boston, which was 
two years before Lee entered it. Dr. Bangs, who had access 
to Garrettson's papers and Journal, in his " Life of Garrettson " 
says : " About seventeen [fifteen] years before the visit of 
Mr. Garrettson, Mr. Boardman, one of the European Metho- 
dist preachers, had preached in Boston and formed a small 
society. Not being succeeded by any minister of the same 
order, the society gradually diminished so that there were 
only three members left. Not being admitted to any of the 
pulpits of the city, Mr. Garrettson preached a few sermons in 

* Asbury's Journal, Vol. I., p. 29. 



322 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



private houses and passed on to Providence, Rhode Island, 
where he says he found several persons who loved the Lord 
Jesus." 

Thus the Gospel according to Methodism was preached in 
the metropolis of New England, and no doubt elsewhere in 
that region, by Richard Boardman in 1772. As he appears to 
have gone to Boston by the way of Rhode Island, he doubt- 
less preached also in that province. In an account of White- 
field's preaching in New England, in 1754, Boston and Rhode 
Island are named together. It is said that on November 7, 
1754, Whitefield " took leave of the Boston people at four in 
the morning and went to Rhode Island." We can hence 
understand why Boardman's passage was paid to Rhode 
Island. It no doubt was the more convenient route from New 
York to Boston. 

Boardman's ministry in New England was brief. Asbury 
met him in the region of Philadelphia in the closing days of 
July, 1772. While Boardman was in New England, Wright 
was in charge in New York. An item of " Cash paid for Mr. 
Wright's trunk " appears in the John Street treasurer's book, 
May 14, 1772, and on July 16th of the same year there is an 
entry of " Cash paid Mr. Wright, part of his quarterage, 
£1. 14, 8 ; " also September 10, " To cash paid Mr. Wright, the 
remainder of his quarterage, £5. 14, 0." 

At or near Trenton, New Jersey, July 20, 1772, Asbury 
met a gentleman from New York, who informed him that he 
was to go to that city, "which," he says, "was what I did 
not expect." This indicates that Boardman had returned 
from Boston and changed one or more of the preachers. 

Asbury asserts that the gentleman who brought him word 
that he was to go to New York gave him " an account of Mr. 
Wright's good behavior," which implies that he was accept- 
able in that metropolis. 

Asbury 's journalistic writings are occasionally marred by 
apparently unnecessary and unfavorable remarks about his 
associates in the ministry. That Richard Wright had weak- 
nesses is probable ; but so perhaps had most of his W^esleyan 
fellow laborers, who, nevertheless, were on the whole excellent 



ASBURY's STRICTURES ON WRIGHT 



S23 



men and Gospel heroes. Why, without showing that there 
was any reason requiring it, should Asbury have given utter- 
ance to such strictures upon his brother ? He says of Wright, 
in July, 1772 : "I fear after all he will settle in Bohemia." 
Then he must have been acceptable to the Bohemians. Soon 
after this Asbury, in New York, wrote : " Arriving about five 
o'clock, found Mr. Wright, who that night had preached his 
farewell sermon, and told the people that he did not expect 
to see them any more. I have always dealt honestly with 
him, but he has been spoiled by gifts. He has been pretty 
strict in the Society, but ended all with a general love feast ; 
which I think is undoing all that he has done." Then 
shortly after this Asbury cites in his Journal an incident 
which suggests that Wright was not pleased with Asbury's 
animadversions, and also that Asbury was not cured of his 
disposition to censure him. Under the date of August 4, 
1772, in New York, Asbury says: "In the love feast this 
evening Mr. Wright rose up and spake as well as he could 
against speaking with severe reflections upon his brother. 
But all this was mere talk. I know the man and his con- 
versation." This is scarcely what we should anticipate from 
a man of the great excellencies of Francis Asbury. He seems 
to have been at this early time rather intolerant respecting 
men and methods that were not in harmony with his views. 
But to err is human. The errors of Asbury were specks upon 
a majestic character which otherwise apparently was of alabas- 
ter whiteness. It is fortunate for the memory of Richard 
Wright that his vindication, by the testimomy of a New 
Yorker to his good deportment in that city, appears in the 
Journal of Asbury on the page preceding the page on which 
the latter's accusatory references stand. It should be remem- 
bered that at this period Asbury was not twenty-seven years 
old and that as he advanced in years he grew in wisdom and in 
knowledge of life and of men. His temperament, however, 
ever inclined him to be critical with respect to men and 
methods that did not accord with his predilections. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

PILMOOR'S WORK IN MARYLAND IN 1772. 

Most of the time that Pilmoor tarried in Philadelphia be- 
fore going South, and during much of his progress to Mary- 
land, Asbury was preaching at different places in New Jer- 
sey. Of these he mentions Trenton, Burlington, Greenwich, 
Gloucester, New Mills, Haddonfield, and Mantua Creek. He 
was at Evans's Chapel at Greenwich on Sunday morning, May 
24, 1772, and " preached at ten o'clock to near three hundred 
people, collected from different parts," and also on Thursday, 
June 5, when " about two hundred willing people " heard 
him. It is singular that in his Journal he never mentioned 
Edward Evans, who labored at Greenwich, and there died in 
the month of Asbury's arrival. Hence, until Pilmoor's manu- 
scripts came to light the name and work of the first Wesleyan 
preacher that came forth in America had almost ceased to be 
remembered in Methodism. The church, of which Mr. Evans 
was the first pastor, was built one hundred and twenty-five 
years ago, which was long before the Methodists thought of 
severing their relation with the Church of England. The 
Greenwich " Church was founded at a meeting of the country- 
folk in Berkley on November 29, 1770. They first assembled 
at the houses of the several members, and worshipped with- 
out any fixed denominational ideas, securing preachers as 
best they could. The confusion and dissatisfaction which 
resulted from such an arrangement led to a meeting at which 
the congregation decided to build a church and have worship 
according to the tenets of the Church of England, and so it 
has continued ever since." * 

* Account of the 125th anniversary of St. Peter's Church, Clarksboro, N. J. r 
which is the successor of the church near Berkley in Greenwich Township, of which 
Edward Evans was the first minister, in the New York Tribune, November 30, 
1895. Compare with pages 277-278. 



PILMOOR FIRST ENTERS MARYLAND 325 

Having crossed the river, Pilmoor stood for the first tirae y 
June 4, 1772, on the south shore of the Susquehanna. He 
proceeded into Maryland about five miles to Mr. Dallam's, 
" where," he says, " I found honest Robert Williams preach- 
ing. We spent the evening together with the family in great 
comfort and rested in peace. The next day, as it had been 
published, we had a fine congregation, and the Lord enabled 
me to preach glad tidings to the poor and meek. After 
preaching we spent the evening with William Husband, a 
man of pretty extensive reading and tolerably good under- 
standing. If he had but a sense of the favor of God, he 
would be happy. After supper many poor negroes came in. 
We joined in an hymn of praise, I gave them an exhortation 
and concluded the day Avith prayer. While we were on our 
knees wrestling with God I observed one of the negroes go 
out and thought he was affected in his mind. And so it hap- 
pened, for we heard him calling loudly upon God to bless 
him and save his soul from sin." 

On Saturday, June 6, Pilmoor and Williams started with 
a guide, and going the nearest way through the woods, soon 
came to Richard Dallam's, " a gentleman of considerable fort- 
une and truly desirous of serving the Lord." Pilmoor de- 
scribes Dallam's home as beautiful for situation, " on a branch 
of the Chesapeake ; the land exceedingly rich and fertile, and 
everything conducive to the happiness of rural life." Here 
at four in the afternoon " a fine company assembled, many of 
them of the genteeler sort," and were serious and reverent 
in their behavior. His conversation with the family in the 
evening was profitable and the day was concluded with 
prayer. 

Robert Williams, who but a month before was in New 
York City, reached Maryland in advance of Pilmoor. Will- 
iams was the first Methodist who preached in Maryland after 
Strawbridge, and he was at this time quite familiar with its 
localities. It is probable, therefore, that he had published Pil- 
moor's coming, and made appointments for him, so that with- 
out needless inconvenience or loss of time he was able to 
enter upon his labors in the region of the Chesapeake. 



326 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

The day succeeding that of his arrival at Richard Dallam's 
(a man who became endeared to the early Methodist preach- 
ers) was the Sabbath, and Pilmoor went to the "new chapel," 
which we have already contemplated ; * a chapel, he says, 
"which a number of planters have lately built for the 
Methodists." There is foundation for the belief that this 
"chapel" was the "log meeting house" of Strawbridge. 
That "log meeting house," it seems, never was deeded to 
the Methodists. 

On the Lord's day, June 7, 1772, after rising early and 
partaking of a breakfast, Pilmoor started from Eichard Dal- 
lam's abode for the " new chapel," presumably with Robert 
Williams, where he " found a large congregation waiting. I 
retired into the woods," says Pilmoor, " a few moments for 
secret prayer, and then our worship began. As it was the 
feast of Pentecost I preached on the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, and He was present to make the word of God ef- 
fectual upon the hearts of the people. After the first service 
was over we waited about an hour and then began again. 
Mr. Williams preached with a good deal of freedom and the 
people were deeply affected." Thus we get a glimpse of 
Williams at, as we suppose, the earliest sanctuary of Method- 
ism in Maryland. We see him preaching there on the first 
Sabbath of June, 1772, after a discourse by Pilmoor, and 
preaching, too, with a free utterance to a congregation who 
were markedly moved by his sermon. 

Robert Williams was a searching, an edifying, and an 
awakening preacher. If not brilliant, certainly he was very 
successful. He was at home among the rural assemblies of 
the South, and moved as " a burning and a shining light " 
through Maryland and Virginia. In the latter province he 
was the Baptist of the Wesleyan movement ; his name is 
associated with its origin there. He was tireless in his 
movements. His zeal was displayed in fervid and laborious 
preaching in the North and in the South. The passing views 
we get of him indicate that he had reached and perhaps 
passed middle life when he came to this country. Jesse Lee 

* See pages 90-96, inclusive. 



ROBERT WILLIAMS AS A PREACHER 



327 



indeed speaks of him as " old Kobert Williams." But his 
ardent soul was young in vigor, enthusiasm, and courage. 

His sermons sometimes aroused antipathy as well as better 
emotions. Pilmoor gives an instance of this at Norfolk, where, 
on the twentieth of November, 1772, a congregation loudly 
signified their dislike of the faithful evangelist. Williams 
preached, and the people, because of their unfriendly feelings 
toward him, made a disturbance, so that Pilmoor found it 
necessary " to go and sit among them to keep them in order." 
They then behaved with pretty good decorum until the 
preacher ceased. Of Williains's preaching power Pilmoor has 
borne good witness. When Williams preached in New York, 
in the summer of 1771, Pilmoor declared that " he gave us a 
very good sermon on the Love of God, and it proved a bless- 
ing to the people." Williams was in the home of the Rev. 
Devereux Jarratt, rector of Bath Episcopal parish, Dinwiddie 
County, Virginia, in March, 1773. He was the first Methodist 
preacher, Jarratt informs us, who appeared in that part of the 
province, and he describes Williams as " a plain, artless, in- 
defatigable preacher," who " was greatly blest in detecting the 
hypocrite, razing false foundations and stirring up believers 
to press after a present salvation from the remains of sin." * 
Furthermore Jarratt said, " I liked his preaching very well, 
especially the animated manner in which his discourses were 
delivered." 

He shrewdly sought opportunities to address the people. 
Jesse Lee says that Williams " spared no pains in order to 
do good. He frequently went to church to hear the estab- 
lished clergy, and as soon as divine service ended he has gone 
out of the church and standing on a stump, block, or log has 
begun to sing, pray or preach to hundreds of people." He 
would often follow his public appeals with personal advice. 
"It was common with him," says Lee, "after preaching to 
ask most of the people that he spoke with some question 
about the welfare of their souls and to encourage them to 
serve God." His success was visible. Lee states that "soon 

* A Brief Narrative of the Revival in Virginia. In a letter to a friend. P. 6. 
London, 1778. 



328 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



after lie began to preach through the country from Petersburg 
into the north part of North Carolina the fruit of his labors 
began to appear and souls were awakened and brought to the 
knowledge of God." His memory was vivid and fragrant 
after his work was done. "Athough he is dead," says Lee, 
"he yet speaketh to many of his spiritual children, while 
they remember his faithful preaching and his holy walk." * 
Williams died September 26, 1775. Two days after Asbury 
wrote : " I ventured to preach a funeral sermon at the burial 
of brother W. He has been a very useful, laborious man 
and the Lord gave him many seals to his ministry. Perhaps 
no one in America has been an instrument of awakening so 
many souls as God has awakened by him." We shall over- 
take this primitive travelling preacher again and again as we 
pursue him in his fruitful itinerancy in the South. 

After both Pilmoor and Williams had preached at the 
" new chapel " on the Sunday of June 7, 1772, they had an 
evening service at Josias Dallam's, " and it was a time of re- 
freshing." The next morning they " set out pretty early for 
Bushtown, where," says Pilmoor, " I preached to a very seri- 
ous congregation under a fine shady tree. We then went on 
to a place called Gunpowder Neck, where I preached to a 
lively, serious congregation with enlargedness of heart, and 
afterwards met a few of them in private as a society. Our 
hearts were much knit together in the love of the gospel." 

It is apparent from this that at this time, June 8, 1772, 
there was a society in Gunpowder Neck. There was one also 
at the place, which, no doubt, was Pipe or Sam's Creek, where 
a chapel had been " lately built for the Methodists." There 
was a society also at Deer Creek, where Pilmoor preached 
his first sermon in Maryland. It is almost certain that there 
was a society at Bushtown ; one at the Forks of Gun- 
powder ; another in the neighborhood of Mr. Bond's ; another 
at Evans's, and another one or two possibly elsewhere. There 
was not at this time, however, any society in Baltimore. It 
is therefore evident that the Methodist evangelists had not 
hugged the cities in the South. They were country itiner- 

* See Lee's History of the Methodists, pp. 43-53. 



PILMOOR ON FIERY AND NOISY METHODISTS 329 



ants, and the founding and shaping of the cause in the cities 
was mostly done by Boardman and Pilmoor until they re- 
turned to England. 

The Methodists in Maryland were demonstrative in their 
meetings, which fact gave Pilmoor some concern. He feared 
that evil would result from what to him seemed wild-fire. 
He deemed it his duty to check the exhibitions of unre- 
strained fervor he witnessed in those rural societies. After 
his labors at Bushtown, June 8, 1772, he had " much conver- 
sation " in the evening " with some who," he says, " think 
they are called to preach and are as hot as fire, but it is 
dreadfully wild and enthusiastic. God has undoubtedly be- 
gun a good work in these parts by the ministry of Messrs. 
John King, Robert Williams, and Robert Strawbridge, but 
there is much danger from those who follow a heated imagi- 
nation rather than the pure illumination of the Spirit and the 
directions of the word of God. Wherever I go I find it nec- 
essary to bear my testimony against all wildness, shouting, 
and confusion in the worship of God, and at the same time 
to feed and preserve the sacred fire which is certainly kindled 
in many parts of this country. If this can be done the work 
will spread on every side and multitudes be gathered to 
Christ. But it is hard to stem the torrent and convince 
ignorant and fiery men that the infinite Jehovah is much 
more pleased with the gentle meltings of a broken heart and 
the pious breathings of humble love than with all the noise 
and clamor in the world. Yet I hope God will succeed my 
endeavors and preserve this noble vine which his own right 
hand has planted." 

Nathan Perigo had begun to preach in that region as early 
as the winter preceding Pilmoor's visit. Probably he was one 
of those whom the latter describes as being " hot " and " en- 
thusiastic." Pilmoor was at Perigo's house during this visit 
to Maryland. Philip Gatch says of Perigo, in January, 1772 : 
" I was near him when he opened the exercises of the first 
meeting I attended. His prayer alarmed me much. I never 
had witnessed such energy, nor heard such expressions in 
prayer before. I was afraid that God would send some judg- 



330 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



ment upon the congregation for my being in such a place. 
I attempted to make my escape. I returned." Gatch was 
not then a Christian, but under the sermon that Perigo then 
preached, he saw himself " altogether sinful and helpless, 
while the dread of hell seized my guilty conscience." He 
says he " had heard of the Methodists driving some persons 
mad, and began to fear it might be the case with me." 

Gatch declares that at his conversion, which occurred in 
Baltimore County, the twenty-sixth of April, 1772, " ere I was 
aware I was shouting aloud and should have shouted louder if 
I had had more strength. I was the first person knoAvn to shout 
in that part of the country. The order of God differs from the 
order of man. He knows how to do his own work and will 
do it in his own way, though it often appears strange to us. 
Indeed, it is a strange work to convert a precious soul. I had 
no idea of the greatness of the change till the Lord gave me 
to experience it. A grateful sense of the mercy and goodness 
of God to my poor soul overwhelmed me." * 

Freeborn Garrettson grew to manhood in Baltimore 
County, where he heard the Methodists before Pilmoor went 
there. In 1827 Garrettson preached a Semi-Centennial ser- 
mon, in which he related some of his reminiscences of the 
early Methodists of Maryland. He describes them as Pil- 
moor says he found them. Garrettson in that sermon says : 
" The work of the Lord went on in a powerful manner. Sin- 
ners fell under the word and cried for mercy, while others 
shouted the praises of God. I began to think that this was 
carrying matters too far. Societies, however, were formed, 
souls were converted and some of the young converts began 
to speak in public. Satan was enraged and persecution com- 
menced. Mr. Pilmoor came to Maryland. I heard him and 
was pleased, for I thought he was checking what I called en- 
thusiasm." Garrettson dated his conversion three years sub- 
sequent to this visit of Pilmoor. 

Pilmoor continued his labors in Maryland for a season, 
and found the people hungering for the living word. On the 

* Sketch of Philip Gatch, by John McLean, LL.D., Judge of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, p. 13. 



PILMOOR, KING, AND WILLIAMS IN MARYLAND 331 

ninth of June, 1772, he went with some friends to the Forks 
of Gunpowder, where he met " a fine congregation, and the 
gospel was attended with success. When I had done the 
people were so affected that they would not go away, but 
wanted me to tell them more about that excellent way of sal- 
vation by Christ. After speaking with them for some time I 
prayed to God for them and we parted in peace. I then 
went home with a gentleman who had been to hear me, and 
was in hopes of a little retirement, but the house was soon 
almost filled with people ; s6 I spent the evening in trying 
to help them forward in the way of salvation." 

Pilmoor went to Mr. Bond's the ensuing day, accompanied 
by Mr. Baker. He preached " to a little company, who re- 
ceived the word with gladness. As some of them came a 
little too late," he says, " and were unwilling to go away, and 
I not having it in my power to stay any longer, I desired 
Mr. King to stay behind and preach to them. Mr. Williams, 
who met me here, went forward with me towards Baltimore. 
But hearing on the road that preaching was not published, 
we turned aside to a friend's house in the country, where we 
were kindly entertained and spent the evening in comfort. 
As it happened to be the society's night, about eight o'clock 
a number of them gathered together and I expounded a chap- 
ter to them and was greatly blessed. When I had done, I 
expected the people would have gone away, but after supper 
I found most of them still waiting ; so I was glad to sing and 
pray again and found it difficult to get them away after all." 

This society probably was at Evans's, which, Philip Gatch 
asserts, was the first that was formed in Baltimore County. 
Gatch himself was converted in the same county less than 
seven weeks prior to this date. "Two others," he says, 
" found peace the same evening, which made seven conver- 
sions in the neighborhood. I returned home happy in the 
love of God. I felt great concern for my parents, but I knew 
not what would be the result of my change. My father had 
threatened to drive me from home, and I knew that he was 
acquainted with what had taken place the night before, for 
he heard me in my exercises near three-quarters of a mile. 



332 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Up to this time my father was permitted to oppose me, but 
now God said by His Providence to the boisterous waves of 
persecution, 'Thou shalt go no farther.' He said to me 
while under conviction, 'There is your eldest brother; he 
has better learning than you, and if there is anything good in 
it why does not he find it out ? ' That brother was present 
when I received the blessing and became powerfully con- 
verted. My father inquired of him the next morning what 
had taken place at the meeting. He gave him the particu- 
lars, and wound up by saying if they did not all experience 
the same change, they would go to hell. This was a nail in 
a sure place." * 

Perigo now preached at Gatch's father's. " He formed 
two classes in the neighborhood, and established a prayer- 
meeting at which both classes came together. By this time 
many had experienced religion." f 

Williams seems to have been Pilmoor's companion much 
of the time that he was in rural Maryland in 1772. Williams 
well knew the ground and the people. The fact that he now 
accompanied Pilmoor towards Baltimore suggests that he 
was not a stranger to that city. Although there is no ac- 
count of his having preached there, the presumption that he 
had is reasonable. Pilmoor, with his culture, his manly 
accomplishments and eloquence, was well fitted to make an 
abiding impression upon the chief towns in the region of the 
Chesapeake. In three of them, as we shall see, he founded 
Methodism. 

* Judge McLean's Sketch of Gatch, pp. 13-14. 
t Gatch, p. 16. 



CHAPTEE XYIII. 



ORIGIN OF THE FIRST METHODIST SOCIETY IN BALTIMORE. 

Baltimore, in 1772, was a town of about five thousand 
inhabitants, perhaps a few hundred more. From Griffith's 
" Annals of Baltimore " (page 62) we learn that in 1774 " a few 
gentlemen undertook a census of the town, and it was found 
that there were 564 houses and 5,934 persons of all descrip- 
tions." It was a place of some manufactures and consider- 
able commerce in 1772. Religiously " the most obvious 
feature in Baltimore at the time the Methodists came here 
was diversity in its persuasions. Already in a population of 
a few thousands five congregations had been gathered and 
churches erected, no two of which were of the same denom- 
ination. Of these, St. Paul's Episcopal, built in 1744, and 
paid for out of the public treasury, was the oldest, wealthiest, 
and the most numerous, and the only one in the place that 
was lawful, all others being made tributary to its support." * 

Joseph Pilmoor first entered Baltimore on Thursday, 
June 11, 1772. He was the first preacher formally appointed 
by Mr. Wesley to America that preached in that city, which 
so soon became a chief centre of the new movement. It is 
true we do not know with certainty what journeys Boardman 
may have taken prior to the above date, as we have but 
slight knowledge of his travels, except as we can trace them 
in the narrative of Pilmoor. There is, however, no intima- 
tion in any extant tradition or document that Boardman 
preceded Pilmoor to Maryland. Dr. Stevens asserts that 
Baltimore claims Strawbridge "as its Methodistic apostle," f 
but there is no evidence aside from probability that he 

* The Rev. Dr. William Hamilton. Methodist Quarterly Review, July, 1856. 
t Hist M. E. Church, Vol. I., p. 78. 



334 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



preached in that city prior to Pilmoor's visit. Probably 
Williams and King preached in Baltimore before Pilmoor, 
but they were not appointed to America in the formal way 
that Pilmoor and Boardman were. On reaching the city, Pil- 
moor " was kindly received by Mr. George Dagan, a Dutch 
merchant," who was "not forgetful to entertain strangers." 
Pilmoor intended to preach at once " abroad," but says " a 
heavy thunder-gust came on in the afternoon, which pre- 
vented it, so I was glad to accept of the Dutch Church, 
where I preached to a little company on ' So run that ye 
may obtain.' " 

The next day, June 12. he " visited several families in the 
town, and did all in my power," he writes, " to recommend 
the poioer of godliness. In the evening I took my stand on a 
pleasant green near the Episcopal Church. Many people 
attended, among whom were two ministers, and all behaved 
in a manner becoming the business in which we were en- 
gaged. After preaching, several well-disposed persons met 
at my lodgings, and we spent an hour in Christian conversa- 
tion, singing and prayer. The next day Josiah * Dallam 
came from the country to see me and our hearts were com- 
forted together. At night I took my place on the green and 
declared to a larger company than we had last evening, 
' Christ in you the hope of glory ; whom we preach warning 
every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we 
may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.' " 

On Sunday, June 14, Pilmoor preached in the Dutch 
Church to " a serious congregation," from the text, " A seed 
shall serve him : it shall be accounted to the Lord for a gen- 
eration." He afterwards " heard a Presbyterian minister 
read a pretty sermon." At two o'clock he preached in the 
Episcopal Church " and many seemed to feel the word." At 
seven o'clock he says " above a thousand people, many of 
them principal inhabitants, assembled on the green, and all 
behaved with the greatest decency while I published salva- 
tion for sinners through the blood of the Lamb. Monday, 

* In MSS. left by the Rev. Dr. Robert Emory, Mr. Dallam's Christian name 

is spelled Josias. 



PILMOOR IN BALTIMORE 



335 



June 15, he " spent some time in study, and at night de- 
scribed to a large congregation the blessedness of the man 
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly," and deliv- 
ered his testimony against the theatre. " As the players 
were in town," he says, " I thought it my duty to warn the 
people against them." When the service was over he " gave 
an exhortation at Mr. Dagan's to those who wished to be 
more fully instructed in the deep things of the Kingdom of 
God." 

Pilmoor had service the next day at five o'clock in the 
morning. Above fifty people attended, to whom he " ex- 
plained a part of the One hundred and nineteenth Psalm. 
In the afternoon," he writes, " I walked with several well-dis- 
posed people to a place about a mile from the town, called 
the Point, where many English people are settled for the 
convenience of the shipping, as the water is much deeper than 
at the town. As the weather was exceedingly hot I was glad 
to take my stand under a fine shady tree, and a fine congre- 
gation stood with the utmost attention while I showed the 
nature and necessity of repentance. From the deep serious- 
ness of the hearers I was led to hope that the word had found 
its way to their hearts, and will hereafter produce a harvest 
of souls for our God. Wednesday and Thursday I was fully 
employed among the people and in public preaching, and 
had the happiness to find that I did not labor in vain. Fri- 
day, I read and explained the Eules of Society in public and 
showed the people the design of Society meetings. Saturday, 
as there had been much rain in the fore part of the day it 
was not convenient to preach abroad. So I went to the 
Dutch Church and the Lord gave his blessing to the word." 

Pilmoor devoted the next Sabbath, June 21, 1772, to 
sacred labor in both city and country. He preached in the 
morning in Baltimore, and then rode in " a chaise " with Mr. 
Barnet " to a place called Baltimore Forest, where," he says, 
" I found about five hundred people assembled in the woods, 
so I immediately took my stand under a shady tree and had 
great liberty to explain the parable of the wheat and the 
tares. As I preached rather too long I was greatly fatigued 



336 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

when I got to the town, but an hour's rest with the bless- 
ing of God restored me again, and I preached on the green 
to a larger congregation than ever. The Lord gave me 
power to preach, and all except one behaved very well. I 
spoke to him publicly, and he went off and stood playing 
with a child at a distance till I had done." 

In this visit of Pilmoor to Baltimore we see an instance 
of the inadequacy of tradition as a historical guide. Tradition 
has preserved the fact of Pilmoor's presence in Baltimore 
and of his preaching out of doors near the Episcopal Church, 
and also that he was " a man of commanding appearance, an 
able and convincing preacher, and was listened to with much 
interest." In minor particulars, however, the tradition fails. 
" He addressed the people once or tivice standing on the side- 
walk as they came out of St. Paul's Church after morning 
service," says Dr. Hamilton in the Methodist Quarterly Ee- 
vieiv, July, 1856. The truth is that he preached not merely 
once or tivice, but for eleven days successively he labored in 
the city, preaching nearly, if not quite, every day, and on 
some days more than once. One day, Sunday, he preached 
three times in Baltimore. Then, after a return to the local- 
ities in the province which he visited before he went to the 
city, he went back and resumed the proclamation of the word 
to the Baltimoreans. 

We have seen that he preached in churches as well as in 
the street. On his fourth day in Baltimore, Sunday, June 
14, 1772, he preached in the Episcopal Church. The day he 
reached the city he preached in the Dutch Church, and he 
also preached in it on two subsequent occasions. 

Of the time and the circumstances of the origin of the 
Methodist Society in Baltimore, we hitherto have had no 
precise knowledge. Neither Lee nor Bangs furnish any in- 
formation on the subject, and the same is true of Lednum, 
Stevens, and McTyeire. Stevens does indeed convey the 
idea vaguely that King founded the cause in Baltimore, for 
after alluding to his preaching in St. Paul's Church, and his 
failure to get into its pulpit again, he says, " Methodism had 
now, however, entered Baltimore." But it is not certain that 



PILMOOR FOUNDS METHODISM IN BALTIMORE 337 

King preached there before Pilmoor, and if he did he did 
not form a society. The same may be said concerning Will- 
iams, though it seems certain that he was in Baltimore before 
Pilmoor, because, as we have seen, Josias Dallam brought him 
to Deer Creek, which afterward was included in the county 
of Harford, and he went thither, as Dr. Dallam asserts, from 
Baltimore. As Williams was not a loiterer, the presumption 
is that, being in Baltimore, he preached. He went to Dallam's 
from Baltimore in 1769 or 1770, for he was the first Metho- 
dist preacher that lifted the Methodist standard at Deer 
Creek. Hamilton's studies availed nothing in determining 
when and by whom Methodism was regularly established in 
Baltimore, as in his paper on " Early Methodism in Maryland 
and Baltimore," in the Methodist Quarterly Revieiv, he gives 
no information concerning the beginning of the society in 
Baltimore. In Bishop Simpson's Cyclopaedia of Methodism 
(page 566) is this assertion, namely : " No permanent so- 
ciety was established in Baltimore until the arrival of Francis 
Asbury, who devoted considerable time to that city." This I 
understand to mean that Asbury originated the first " per- 
manent " Methodist society in that town. This assertion is 
incorrect, because Methodism was organized in Baltimore 
several months before Asbury first visited it, as Pilmoor's 
manuscripts abundantly prove. It is clear from Asbury's 
diary writings that he found a society there, but he gives no 
information as to its origin. Pilmoor was in that city five 
months at least before Asbury first entered it, and we shall 
now see that Pilmoor was the founder of Methodism in 
Baltimore. 

On Monday, June 22, 1772, he met, he says, " a few seri- 
ous persons in the Dutch Church, and proposed to form a 
society. Some of them resolved to give up themselves to 
the Lord, so I joined them together. In the evening I 
preached at the Point, and bear them witness they will re- 
ceive sound doctrine. After preaching, I met the people, 
who desired it, in private, and we were so abundantly blessed 
that they also desired to be joined into a society. The ear- 
nestness with which they desired this made me conclude they 



338 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



saw the necessity of it, so I joined twenty -five of them to- 
gether, and there is a prospect of many more. May the 
Lord give them his blessing and daily add to their number 
such as shall be saved." 

We thus see that Pilmoor formed a society in Baltimore 
proper, and also one at " the Point," contiguous, in the same 
day. The next day, June 23, he left the city for a short 
time. After his return he added fifteen to the society in 
Baltimore, which made forty members. "Some of these will, 
I hope, be to me a crown of rejoicing in the day of our Lord," 
exclaims the preacher. This was the society which Asbury 
found in Baltimore, but of which he was not the founder. 
It was formed in the Dutch Church, June 22, 1772, by Joseph 
Pilmoor. 

Leaving Baltimore for a short time the day after he 
formed the society in that city, he again visited the societies 
in the country. His description of this trip affords vivid 
glimpses of the Methodist field in Maryland as it then was. 
"As I rode aloug," he says, "the distant thunder and light- 
ning made me gladly accept of the invitation of a friend by 
the roadside to turn in with him, and it was well I did ; for 
the dreadful gust soon reached us and the terrible flashes of 
lightning and loud peals of thunder bursting over us, together 
with the heavy rain, made me glad to be under shelter. When 
it was over my kind friend agreed to go with me, and about 
four o'clock we got to the place where I was to have preached. 
As they had appointed it at some distance, when I came 
there Mr. King was preaching, so I kept out of sight until 
he had done and then gave the people an exhortation and was 
greatly refreshed and comforted among them. Wednesday I 
preached at Bushtown with much freedom and peace, and 
spent the evening with my dear friend, Mr. Dallam, where I 
preached the next day, and on Friday went with several friends 
to a place near the Susquehanna, where we found a congrega- 
tion waiting, to whom I explained the nature of Spiritual re- 
ligion. Went home with a sensible, pious Quaker, at whose 
house a great many people assembled in the evening, and I 
had encouraging freedom of mind in speaking to them of God's 



PILMOOR AT THE CHAPEL IN MARYLAND 339 



method of justifying sinners ; and am in hopes the wildness 
that was likely to destroy the work will soon be effectually 
cured. Saturday, 27th, I was accompanied by several of the 
friends of Mr. Childs, a very rich Quaker, where many people 
of fashion attend and seem to think it their greatest honor 
to be followers of Jesus. After dinner I rode on to Mr. 
Dallam's, at Deer Creek, where I preached at five o'clock on 
' Christ in you the hope of glory,' etc. The word was attended 
by the Spirit of the Lord and made a special blessing to the 
people." 

He has now come to the last Sunday of June, 1772. A 
new chapel attracted him on the Sabbath morning, as it did 
three weeks before. As I have already said in a former part 
of this work, the conclusion seems warranted that the new 
chapel at which Pilmoor and Williams preached June seventh, 
was the same to which Pilmoor now went on the twenty-eighth 
of June. The only Wesleyan chapel in Maryland would 
naturally be a centre of interest to the Methodists of that 
province, and so it is not strange that Pilmoor was there with 
Williams the first Sunday he spent in Maryland, nor that he 
returned to it on this the last Sabbath, which during this visit 
he gave to the rural part of the province. Of the last Sun- 
day of June, 1772, Pilmoor says : " We set off early in the 
morning [apparently from Deer Creek] for a new chapel,* 
where we found four times as many people as it would con- 
tain, so they made me a place in the wood, and I stood 
beneath the spreading branches of a stately oak and called 
the multitude to the gospel Bethesda, the spiritual house of 
Mercy, where all that come may obtain a perfect cure of all 
their diseases. After preaching was over the people were 
unwilling to go away ; so I told them if they would wait till 
I got a little refreshment I would give them another dis- 
course. I stepped to a cottage at a small distance and got a 
dish of tea, and then returned to the wood, where I found 
most of the people waiting. I preached again, and was par- 
ticularly owned and blessed of God ; but being obliged to 
speak pretty loud I was much fatigued and should have been 

* Compare pp. 91-92 with this passage from Pilmoor. 
23 



340 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



glad of a little rest, but the time was not yet, for it had been 
appointed for me to preach above eight miles off. I hastened 
forward and found a great many more than the house could 
contain. So I was obliged to preach abroad a third time, and 
God gave me strength in that hour and caused our hearts to 
rejoice in his salvation. When I was done I was so exceed- 
ingly tired that I could hardly stand or speak. But it is for 
Christ and a day of rest is at hand." 

Pilmoor preached at Deer Creek, at the house of Mr. 
Dallam, on the twenty-ninth of June. " We had a large and 
attentive congregation," he says. "My mind was much at 
liberty to declare the truth, and the people seemed to feel the 
word and to ' worship God in the Spirit.' I then hastened 
to Mr. Watters', where a large congregation was waiting in the 
barn, so I began without delay and explained part of the 
Sixty-first Chapter of Isaiah. My own soul was deeply 
affected with the subject, and most of the people wept much 
while I discoursed on the grand process of redeeming love as 
begun, carried on and completed by Immanuel, the sinners' 
Friend. Afterward spent the evening most comfortably with 
the family and several friends." Before leaving Henry 
Watters's house, near Deer Creek, the next morning Pilmoor 
inscribed a memento of his visit upon a window-pane, " which 
still remains," says Dr. Emory,* as follows : 

" Soft peace she brings wherever she arrives, 
She builds our quiet as she forms our lives, 
Lays the rough paths of peevish nature even 
And opens in each heart a little heaven." 

«wib8 nw ran" 

" Exalt Jehovah, Our God." 
"June 30, 1772." "J. P." 

The morning of June 30th " I set out with several friends," 
says Pilmoor, " for Mr. Baker's, at the Forks of Gunpowder, 
where we found a noble congregation, and as there was no 

* This circumstance is related by Dr. Robert Emory in a manuscript yet pre- 
served concerning Methodism in Harford County, Maryland. Whether the glass 
containing this inscription by Pilmoor, which had been kept until Dr. Emory's day, 
is still in existence I am not informed. 



PILMOOR IN MARYLAND AND BALTIMORE 341 

house that would near contain them I was glad to stand up in 
the woods, and the people were finely sheltered from the 
extreme heat of the sun by the spreading branches of the 
trees. Most of the gentry in the neighborhood were present 
and expressed the utmost satisfaction, and one of them took 
me home with him and entertained me with great hospitality."' 
Thus have we followed Pilmoor from his entrance into 
Maryland, on the fourth of June, 1772, to the end of that 
month. We have seen him preaching at Deer Creek ; Rich- 
ard Dallam's ; Bushtown ; Gunpowder Neck ; Forks of Gun- 
powder ; Mr. Bond's ; a place not designated, which he found 
in the country as he went to Baltimore ; Baltimore City ; 
Fell's Point ; Baltimore Forest ; and at several other places. 
Most of these places he visited twice. Besides he twice vis- 
ited the " new chapel " in Maryland and preached three ser- 
mons there. 

He now saw the opening of the month of July, on the first 
day of which he went to Bond's, having " a pleasant journey 
through the woods." There he met a large congregation, 
to whom he preached on " the nature of Faith." He then 
" went home with Captain Jolley," where he says " I spent the 
evening with the utmost pleasure and satisfaction. I love 
much to converse with people of good sense and pleasing ad- 
dress, but my call is to go forward to preach the gospel to 
the poor. Took leave of the family and went forward with 
Henry Johns to Mr. Perigo's. God sent a refreshing shower 
of heavenly consolation while I was preaching." He then 
went to Mr. Woodward's, where he " was kindly entertained 
and slept in peace." 

Pilmoor returned to Baltimore on Friday, July third, 1772, 
" ready to faint with the heat," after an absence of ten days, 
in which he abounded in labor. That night he preached in 
the town, and also on the night following. On Sunday, July 
5, he preached in the country again, but the place is not des- 
ignated, and he returned to Baltimore the same evening and 
preached on the Green, where he says "it was remarkably 
pleasant." The congregation was large. 

The next day he preached at " the Point," and the dny 



342 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

after to "a listening multitude in the town." Then, on 
Wednesday, July 8th, 1772, he " went to preach again at Mr. 
Woodward's." There he had "a time of refreshing," and then 
returned to Baltimore " in the night for fear of the heat on 
the morrow." 

He had an appointment to meet the society on Thursday, 
the ninth, "in the Dutch Church." Many besides the mem- 
bers attended ; " so," says Pilmoor, " I gave a general exhorta- 
tion and afterward met the class, and knowing that people are 
apt to speak many disrespectful things of our private meetings, 
I was glad that several strangers were present while I spoke 
to the members, and were so far from objecting that they ex- 
pressed the highest approbation. So I joined fifteen to the 
society, which now consists of forty members." " There is 
now," he writes, "an open door in this town, and nothing is 
wanted but a good, zealous preacher, for the people are well 
affected to the cause of God and wish us prosperity in the 
name of the Lord. My heart is much united with them, and 
I would like to continue longer in these parts, but the ' tute- 
lary cloud' moves southward and I am called to go forward." 

Pilmoor left Baltimore on Friday, July 10, 1772, for Vir- 
ginia. He prepared for his journey, " took leave of my dear 
friends in Baltimore," he says, "and about one o'clock set off 
for Annapolis. As the weather was hot and the road sandy, 
our horse failed us within seven miles of the city. We were 
obliged to put up at a poor cottage by the roadside, where our 
accommodations were very bad. We could get nothing for 
the horse but a few blades of Indian corn, which we stripped 
off, and we ourselves were uncomfortable enough. But it is 
now over, and I received no other damage than catching a 
little cold. The next morning we set off and about ten o'clock 
arrived in the city." Pilmoor was conveyed from Baltimore 
to Annapolis by a young man in a " chaise." He did not 
know one person in the town, and so was at a loss as to how 
he should proceed to get a place for preaching. " While we 
were at dinner in the Coffee-house," he says, " a young store- 
keeper came in who expressed a desire to hear, and readily 
went with me about the town to look out for a convenient place. 



PILMOOK'S MINISTRY IN ANNAPOLIS 



343 



As we walked along I observed a very large tree in a fine 
piece of ground, where many people might stand in the shade. 
We made application, and readily obtained leave of the 
owner to preach under it that night. So I sent the bell-man 
around the town to inform the inhabitants and at seven 
o'clock had a fine congregation." 

The next day — Sunday, July 12 — he had a small audience 
" in the field " at eight o'clock in the morning. He attended 
the church service twice. In the evening he preached under 
the large tree to " a vast multitude " on the Gospel Bethesda, 
and closed the day with prayer at the Coffee-house. He was 
anxious to leave for Norfolk, and on Monday morning he 
" went down to the water side " to look for a boat, but found 
none. "An old gentleman offered to send me for eight 
pounds," he said, " but I thought it was very extravagant and 
therefore resolved to wait." He accepted a friendly invita- 
tion of a young man to breakfast, where he met " some very 
agreeable people, with whom I spent an hour comfortably." 
He preached in the evening to a very good congregation, 
" who were remarkably attentive " while he discoursed to 
them from the text : " Christ our Passover, slain for us." He 
remarks, however, that " I do not find myself at liberty, nor 
have I near so much satisfaction in preaching here as in most 
other places where I have been." He " breakfasted " next 
morning " with the Rev. Mr. Montgomery at his lodgings." 

Thus was Methodist preaching introduced into Annapolis. 
All the Wesley an travelling preachers who up to that time 
had visited Maryland were Strawbridge, Williams, King, and 
now Pilmoor. It is doubtful whether any Methodist preacher 
was before Pilmoor in proclaiming the Gospel to the citizens 
of Annapolis. His sermon under the large tree, July 11, 1772, 
probably was the first Methodist sermon ever preached in 
that town. 

On Tuesday, July 14, 1772, Pilmoor "spent a profitable 
hour with my landlady at the Coffee-house," he says, " who 
behaved the most like a Christian of any I have met with in 
the town. When I had gotten my things ready and wanted 
my bill she told me I was perfectly welcome to what I had 



344 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

had at her house, and begged I would make use of it when- 
ever I came to Annapolis. She also sent provisions on board 
the boat for me on my passage, and we parted in great peace 
and friendship. About 12 o'clock I embarked and we sailed 
immediately, but the wind turning right ahead we were obliged 
to cast anchor and wait for the turning of the tide. While 
we waited, the negroes, who were all the companions I 
had, proposed going ashore, which I gladly consented to do, 
and had a fine opportunity of bathing in the salt water. 
Wednesday we had a pretty breeze and dropped down the 
Bay about twenty miles. On Thursday the clouds gathered 
thick around us and soon burst in dreadful peals of thunder, 
but we received no other damage than being a good deal ter- 
rified with the tremendous flashes of lightning. About sun- 
set we crossed the mouth of the Potomac and had a fair wind 
all night and on Friday morning found ourselves in Hampton 
Roads, about fifteen miles from the desired port. About 
seven o'clock I landed safe at Norfolk." 



CHAPTEE XIX. 



PILMOOR IN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA, AND THE FOUNDING 
OF METHODISM IN PORTSMOUTH AND NORFOLK. 

Joseph Pilmoor first entered Virginia on the seventeenth 
of July, 1772, and was kindly received by Mr. William Stephen- 
son, a Scotchman, who invited him to his house before he left 
New York. The same evening he opened his mission in 
Norfolk with a sermon in the " Playhouse." The congrega- 
tion was small and so was the promise of success. He 
preached again the following evening on the Nature of Ee- 
pentance. He preached at Portsmouth " under a fine shady 
tree " on Sunday morning, the twenty-sixth of July, on " The 
One Thing Needful," and the word was with power. That 
afternoon, in the theatre at Norfolk, he preached to "most of 
the genteel people " of the town on the Gospel Bethesda. He 
passed the evening with a Mr. Haldane, who had but lately 
come from Philadelphia. The next day he received a call from 
the Eev. Mr. Davis, " rector of Norfolk," and their conversa- 
tion was about religion. Pilmoor preached to a large assem- 
bly the same evening. 

His health was now reduced, and he attributed it to the 
badness of the water and the change of climate. The next 
day (July 28th) he was so ill that he was sorrowfully obliged 
to disappoint a congregation at Portsmouth. A stranger sent 
him something, which gave him relief, and he soon resumed 
his beloved work. 

He met " a lovely congregation " at seven in the morning, 
in the Norfolk Theatre, on the last Sunday of July, 1772, and 
afterward was much edified in hearing Mr. Davis at the 
church. At night the theatre in Norfolk would not hold half 
of the people, so Pilmoor preached in the open air. This 



346 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



was by far the largest congregation he had met since he 
left Philadelphia. The next day (Monday) "I had a good 
time at Portsmouth," he says, " and Tuesday went about five 
miles into the woods to William Owen's, where I found a 
pretty congregation waiting for me, to whom I preached the 
gospel of God." Mr. Owen was a helper of the cause. 
"William Watters soon came to Norfolk to join Pilmoor in the 
work, and he says, " William Owen was one of my great con- 
fidants, and often refreshed my spirits. His house was at all 
times a home for me."* 

Pilmoor had " a vast multitude of attentive hearers " in 
Captain Good's yard, at Portsmouth, at ten o'clock Sunday, 
August 9, 1772. The same evening he was at the theatre in 
Norfolk, where he met an exciting episode. The assembly 
was very large, but as the ground was so wet he was advised to 
preach indoors. Men were appointed to keep all the negroes 
out until the white people were admitted, for whom there was 
not sufficient room. Pilmoor began the service, but soon a 
plank gave way " and the stage on which the pulpit was fixed 
began to sink down at one side," he says, " which so terrified 
the people that they cried out amain. As I perceived it 
would be impossible to quiet the people, I slipped out, 
ordered a table, and began singing on the large plain adjoin- 
ing the house. This happened to be the very thing. The 
people drew out of the house and I had a noble congregation 
of white and black, to whom I freely declared the whole 
counsel of God." 

The next Sunday he preached in the morning at Norfolk 
and then went to Portsmouth, where he met the largest con- 
gregation he had seen there. He dined with " a great mer- 
chant," Mr. Sproul, at Gosport, and received marked kindness. 
After dinner he was sent over the river in the family boat and 
reached Norfolk in time for evening preaching. The white 
people filled the house, " and a vast multitude of black people 
stood around about the outside." The word on Pilmoor's lips 
was " like a sharp two-edged sword piercing into the hearts 
of sinners." The third day after this he " was chiefly em- 

* Life of Watters. 



PILMOOR AT WILLIAMSBURG AND YORKTOWN, VA. 347 

ployed in conversation with the people, who begin," he says, 
"to desire instruction in the things pertaining to salvation." 

He now sailed for Williamsburg, Va., where he enjoyed 
the hospitality of Mr. Dean, a coach-maker from New York. 
Pilmoor gathered a small congregation on the evening of his 
arrival, which appears to have been August 21, 1772. On 
Sunday, the twenty-second, he heard a useful sermon at the 
church and the rector invited him to dine. In the evening 
he preached to a multitude in the State House yard. 11 As 
the minister himself was to hear, and treated me so genteelly," 
says Pilmoor, " the rest of the people were ashamed to do 
anything uncivil." The next morning Pilmoor was ill, but 
was so much better in the afternoon that he preached to a 
vast crowd of people in the playhouse. Of the success of his 
ministry in Williamsburg, then the capital of Virginia, he says : 
"'Tis surprising what a change there is in this place in a few 
days. When I came few cared anything about the preaching, 
but now abundance of people are not only glad to hear it, 
but also willing to receive it." 

From Williamsburg he went to Yorktown, August 24th, 
1772. Being unknown there he put up at a public house, 
where he met several young men of the College of William 
and Mary, in Williamsburg, one of whom made some obser- 
vations on theology, which drew from Pilmoor an adroit reply. 
The young collegian he says "began an argument about 
creeds, and pretended that he could not believe anything he 
did not understand. I told him the advocates for Natural 
Religion were under the same disadvantage in that respect as 
those who believe in Revealed Religion, for there are many 
things in Nature which every philosopher most certainly 
believes, and yet can no more understand or account for 
them than we can understand the doctrine of the Trinity, so 
that herein they have no cause to triumph over the Trini- 
tarians at all." In the afternoon Pilmoor preached at York- 
town, " in the dining-room, to a pretty large congregation of 
very genteel hearers, and by the seriousness of the people had 
good hope that my labor was not in vain." During the 
delivery of this sermon he was taken ill, and became worse, 



348 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



so that he had to take to his bed. The next morning, how- 
ever, he began his journey to Hampton, where he found 
himself much better. 

At Hamptom he asked for and obtained the use of a large 
dining-room, and sent out word to the people that he would 
preach, and at the time appointed a fine congregation came. 
" But just as I was preparing to preach," he says, " I was 
seized with a severe fit of the ague. However, as the people 
were gathered I resolved to preach if possible, went imme- 
diately into the room and gave out a hymn and then kneeled 
down in prayer, but was so very sick that I had like to have 
fallen down on the floor. Being unable to stand I told the 
people if they would permit me to sit down I would try to 
preach. The fever was so hot upon me that I was almost 
scorched and could hardly hold up my head ; yet the Lord 
gave me uncommon clearness in my ideas, and his blessing 
attended in a special manner while I was trying to snatch 
poor souls as brands out of the fire. The people were greatly 
affected."" 

Among the hearers on this occasion was Captain Brickell, 
of Norfolk, whose family constantly attended the preaching. 
The Captain, however, greatly disapproved of the Methodists. 
When he left his family, a few days previously, he requested 
them never to hear Methodist preaching again. He was so 
moved under the sermon Pilmoor preached in such weakness 
of body at Hampton, and was so thoroughly convinced of the 
truth, that before sailing " to the West Indies, he left the ship 
in the Boads and went to Norfolk to entreat his wife and 
family never to miss a sermon, but to constantly attend the 
preaching at all opportunities." Pilmoor declares that the 
Captain "became one of the best men I ever met with in any 
part of the world." About three months after the change 
was wrought in him under Pilmoor's unctuous sermon at 
Hampton, William Watters, as we shall see, went to Norfolk. 
In going to Conference at Deer Creek, in 1777, Watters says : 
" I met with my friend, Captain Brickell, from Norfolk. It 
brought to my mind the days that were past, when in weak- 
ness and in much fear and trembling I first saw him and his 



pilmoor's ministry in Norfolk, va. 



349 



family."* Thomas Rankin, in a letter to Mr. Wesley, says 
that on June 24, 1776, he " left Leesburg, Va., in company 
with Wright Brickell, a truly devout man, who now rests 
from his labors." t This man may ha\e been the Captain 
Brickell of Pilmoor's narrative ; if he was he died in less 
than six years from the time that his mind was so graciously 
wrought upon under the discourse delivered by Pilmoor in 
such physical infirmity at Hampton. 

From Hamptom Pilmoor went by boat to Norfolk. There 
he suffered another attack of the ague and fever, but made 
full proof of his ministry. The last Sunday in August, 1772, 
he felt better and sent word to the people in the afternoon 
that he would try to preach in the evening. A very large 
congregation soon gathered, and " though my legs could 
hardly stand under me," he says, " I found my soul greatly 
refreshed. While I have breath I will gladly publish salva- 
tion to sinners through the blood of the Lamb. If he is ex- 
alted I am fully satisfied whether it be by life or by death ; 
for me to live is Christ and to die is gain." The next night 
he was better, and after preaching he " read the rules of the 
society in public and had a multitude to hear," which he says 
"afforded me a fine opportunity of explaining many things 
respecting our discipline which people in general do not un- 
derstand. This was made a singular blessing to many and 
effectually removed prejudice from their minds." 

There was a good audience at Portsmouth on the morning 
of Sunday, September 12, 1772, to whom Pilmoor p reached, 
more alarmingly than he had ever done, on the latter part of 
the twenty-fifth of St. Matthew. In the evening the congre- 
gation at Norfolk " was abundantly larger and the people 
were all attention." The ensuing night he preached again 
at Norfolk and the next night at Portsmouth, where " abun- 
dance of people heard the word." The following day (Sep- 
tember 15) several persons came to accompany him to the 
country. " The weather was fine," he says, " and we had a 
most agreeable journey through the groves of pine trees in- 

* Watters's Life, p. 56. 

+ A Brief Narrative of the Revival of Religion in Virginia. London, 1778. 



350 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



termingled with stately oaks. In the afternoon we had a 
fine congregation under the shady trees, and a deep serious- 
ness sat upon every countenance while I explained and im- 
proved the story of Zacheus, the publican. My heart was so 
drawn out with desire for their salvation that I continued 
speaking about two hours, and I believe not in vain. After- 
wards I walked through the woods to visit a poor man who 
had been confined to his room for eight years. As many of 
the neighbors came in I gave them an exhortation. We re- 
turned to Mr. Handle's. In the morning we went to the 
house of a poor widow, where I had appointed to preach, and 
found a great number of people gathered from various quar- 
ters, whom I invited to come to Christ. About five o'clock 
returned safe to Portsmouth." 

The congregation at Portsmouth was much larger than 
the house would contain on Sunday, September 19, 1772. 
Pilmoor preached from a table in Captain Good's yard. 
Then he heard a discourse at the church which led him to 
express the fear that " an historical account of Darius and 
Alexander the Great will never bring poor sinners to an ac- 
quaintance with Jesus." The next day he was at the West- 
ern Branch, where at a Mr. Grimes's he preached on blind 
Bartimeus with such effect that the people wept for their 
sins and cried for mercy. He continued in the country until 
Saturday. The Sunday ensuing the congregation overflowed 
the house at Portsmouth ; the women were within and the 
men without. At night the house Avas crowded at Norfolk. 

Pilmoor kept his eye upon the outlying country and 
sought therein new fields of labor. On the twenty-seventh of 
September, 1772, he says : " I took leave of my dear friends 
for a little while and set out for North Carolina. The day 
was very hot and my way was through the woods. I called 
at many little houses on the road, but could get nothing for 
my horse till late in the afternoon, when I found a little ordi- 
nary, where I stopped to dine. I resolved to stop there all 
night. In the evening several young countrymen came in who 
desired to speak with me, and we spent our time in agreeable 
conversation, singing, and prayer. ' ' Next morning he resum ed 



PILMOOR IN NORTH CAROLINA 



351 



his journey, and a little before noon reached Carrituck 
Court House, in North Carolina. He " began without delay, 
and declared to Churchmen, Baptists, and Presbyterians, ' He 
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' God 
made his word like a hammer that breaketh the rock in 
pieces. The poor people expressed the utmost gratitude," 
says Pilmoor, "and Colonel Williams invited me to dine. 
As it was in my way, I gladly accepted the offer, and found 
one of the prettiest places I have seen in North Carolina. I 
was entertained with true primitive hospitality." In the 
morning he went about five miles to a small chapel, where he 
had a very good time in preaching and prayer. 

Colonel Williams and Pilmoor travelled about twenty 
miles, to the Narrows Chapel, on the twenty-ninth of Sep- 
tember, 1772. The road lay through the woods, and was 
rough and perilous. At the chapel they had a very solemn 
time. Pilmoor asserts that " the poor ignorant people were 
greatly affected. One poor old man came to me with tears 
in his eyes, thanking me for what he had heard, and begged 
me to accept of some money to help me along. I told him 
I was not in want, and begged him to excuse me, but nothing 
would satisfy him without I would take it as a token of his 
Christian regard and love of the gospel of Christ. We then 
mounted, and hastening on our way, in the evening came safe 
to Colonel Williams's." This was not only a day of long 
travel, but also of enforced abstinence. Of it Pilmoor wrote : 
" As I had travelled above fifty miles without any other re- 
freshment than a bit of bread and a little water, and exerted 
myself pretty much in preaching, I was sufficiently tired. 
But it is for Jesus." 

The next day, September 30th, he left Williams's home 
and rode to a new church on the border of Virginia, where 
he preached "to a large congregation of weeping sinners." 
The following day was the Sabbath, and after family prayer, 
Pilmoor, in very rough weather, crossed the bay in a canoe, 
and then walked over the fields to the meeting-house, where 
he " had a congregation of Baptists and others, who were all 
attention." From that meeting-house he rode about eight 



352 THE WESLEY AIT MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

miles further, and showed to " a fine congregation the way of 
salvation, and spent the evening in conversation with Chris- 
tian friends." The ensuing day he started early for Kemp's 
Landing, above twenty miles distant, where he arrived in 
time to preach at noon. The meeting was at the public 
house. There was to be a horse-race in the afternoon, and 
before Pilmoor left the tavern he spoke of the absurdity of 
such sport, " and showed how ridiculous it is for gentlemen 
of sense to ride many miles to see two or three horses run 
about a field with negroes on their backs." When he called 
for his bill, the host politely declined to receive pay. In the 
evening Pilmoor was again in Norfolk. 

He at once resumed his work in that town. On the third 
of October he preached in the theatre, and on the fifth at 
Portsmouth, " and visited a poor dying sinner." Some 
friends from Williamsburg visited him, and urged him to go 
there again, which led him to hope that his ministry in the 
capital of Virginia had not been unfruitful. On Sunday 
morning, the eighth of October, he preached in the Norfolk 
theatre; in the afternoon to "a vast multitude in Captain 
Good's yard," at Portsmouth ; and in the evening " to the 
great congregation in Norfolk, and took much pains to con- 
vince them we are all debtors ; that we owe to God ten thou- 
sand talents and more, but are in ourselves totally insolvent, 
and therefore should look to and heartily accept of our di- 
vine Surety, Christ Jesus, whose boundless love wipes away 
the debt immense when we have nought to pay." 

He now began to see evidence of the saving effect of the 
word he had proclaimed. The ninth of October he gave 
some time to his studies, visited the people, " and had one to 
speak with me," he says, " about the salvation of his soul. 
This is a rare thing in Norfolk, and I hope it will not long 
be so. Many are clearly convinced of the truth, but as yet 
they are ashamed of the cross, and fear the reproach that at- 
tends the gospel." He heard that a gentleman who con- 
stantly waited upon his ministry had reported that he 
preached justification by faith, " which is a strange thing in 
Norfolk," he writes. " So I took some pains to explain and 



PILMOOK IX TOWN AND COUNTRY IN VIRGINIA 353 



confirm it, both by the Scriptures and the doctrinal articles of 
the Church." On October seventeenth he preached on "I 
will show thee my faith by my works," and trusted that he 
convinced his hearers that they were mistaken in charging 
him " with being an enemy to good works." 

He now went with a Mr. Randall to New Mill Creek, 
about fifteen miles from Norfolk. He preached, and the 
people desired him to give them another sermon, which he 
did in about an hour, and even then, he says, " they were un- 
willing to part ; so many of them went with me to see two 
very old people who are sick," and whom " I found better ac- 
quainted with the plan of salvation than most I have met 
with in Virginia. We all united in calling upon God." The 
last day of this week — October 21, 1772 — he preached at a 
Mr. Wilkins's ; " the hearts of the people melted, and tears 
flowed abundantly from their eyes." He then went to Ports- 
mouth and preached " with zeal and power," and the next 
morning — Sunday — preached there again. In the afternoon 
he addressed " a vast congregation at Norfolk." 

He started again for the country the next day, and 
preached at Captain O'Connor's, whither he went on a boat. 
The following day he preached at Mrs. Buxton's, at Naney- 
mond, where he had been before, and the ensuing day he 
preached again, after which he went to Mr. Hughes's, where 
he met the largest congregation he had ever seen in that 
place. Next day he dined with Mr. Sproul, the merchant, at 
Gosport, and in the evening preached to a large audience. 
The day after this he returned to Norfolk and preached on 
justification by faith. 

Thus Pilmoor continued to abound in labor day by day, 
in town and country. On the thirteenth of November, 1772, 
he preached at the Great Bridge to many people. " All were 
deeply serious," he says, " and stood quietly till I had done, 
when I had much conversation with one who is troubled in 
mind, whom I endeavored to lead to Christ. As most of the 
congregation stood by while I was speaking with her, I de- 
sired them all to join with me in prayer for her. We kneeled 
down upon the grass, and God gave me great freedom of 



354 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



mind to plead with him for her, and I left her in hope of 
salvation." The next day he returned to Portsmouth, and at 
night " had a vast multitude to hear, to whom " he " ex- 
plained the Rules of the Society." 

We come now to an important day in the history of Vir- 
ginia, namely, the organization of the first two Methodist 
Societies within its borders of which we have record. Rob- 
ert Williams was in Virginia before Pilmoor, and he brought 
" a flaming account of the work there " to Philadelphia in 
the spring of 1772.* But while Williams preached in Vir- 
ginia somewhat in advance of Pilmoor, it does not appear 
that he formed any societies within' its bounds until 1774. 
Lee assigns the beginning of Williams's work in Norfolk to 
the early part of the year 1772, which, no doubt, is the cor- 
rect date, save that in the summer of 1769, immediately after 
landing from Europe, he opened his ministry in America in 
that town, as we have seen, from the steps of a vacant house. 
His appearance there in 1772, as described by Jesse Lee, was 
very much like the opening of his mission there in 1769, as 
.described by Dr. Dallam, of Maryland, t Concerning his 
appearance in Norfolk in the early part of 1772, Jesse Lee 
says : "Without any previous notice being given, he went to 
the court-house. Standing on the steps and beginning to 
sing, the people collected together. After prayer, he took 
his text and preached to a considerable number of hearers, 
who were very disorderly 4 They all thought the preacher 
was a madman, and while he was preaching the people were 
laughing, talking, and walking about in all directions. The 
general conclusion was that they never heard such a man be- 
fore, for they said sometimes he would preach, then he would 
pray, then he would swear, and at times he would cry. The 
people were so little used to hearing a preacher say hell or 
devil in preaching that they thought he was swearing when 
he told them about going to hell or being damned if they 
died in their sins. As he was believed to be a madman none 

*See Asbury's Journal, Vol. I., page 28. 
t See pages 102-104, inclusive. 
% See page 359. 



WHO FOUNDED METHODISM IN VIRGINIA 1 355 



of them invited him to their houses. However, he preached 
at the same place the next day, when they found out he was 
not insane, and they were glad to get him to their houses. 
This may be considered the beginning of Methodism in Vir- 
ginia, and it was not long before a Methodist Society was 
formed in the town of Norfolk." * 

Nearly a year passed after Williams began his fruitful 
labors in Virginia, in 1772, before there was a society in Nor- 
folk. Williams did not found one, nor did any exist until four 
months lacking one day after Pilmoor opened his ministry in 
that town. This shows us that preaching steadily for weeks 
or months in a place where Methodism was unknown was one 
thing and the formation of a society from such hearers was 
another. Embury quickly formed a society after he began to 
preach in New York, but the persons who composed it at first 
were mostly, if not wholly, like himself, Methodist immigrants 
from Ireland, who were aroused to a renewal of their consecra- 
tion by Barbara Heck. As it was nearly a year from the time 
Williams began preaching in Norfolk in 1772, with Pilmoor 
following him, before a society was formed there, it is highly 
probable that Strawbridge had to preach a while in Maryland 
before he brought a Methodist society into existence at Pipe 
Creek. Ploughing and sowing precede the shocking of 
sheaves. 

Lee apparently did not know the date of the origin of the 
society in Norfolk. He apparently supposed that Williams 
formed it, but does not distinctly say so. His biographer, 
Dr. Leroy M. Lee, however, inaccurately says Williams formed 
a society in Norfolk in 1772. t Bennett, in his "Memorials of 
Methodism in Virginia," says : " To Bobert Williams belongs 
the honor of planting Methodism in Virginia." An example 
of the errors which have crept into nearly all of the histories 
of Methodism in this country is that which Bishop McTyeire 
has set forth as follows : " Pilmoor went southward. From 
Norfolk he extended his trip to Charleston and Savannah. 
No societies were planted by him." % Dr. Stevens says Will- 

* History of Methodism, p. 40. + Life and Times of Jesse Lee, p. 45. 

% McTyeire's History of Methodism, pp. 296-297. 

24 



356 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



iams was the " founder of Methodism in Virginia " and im- 
plies that he founded it in Norfolk. * 

Pilmoor did found societies in the South, as we shall now 
see, but there is no evidence that Williams formed any in 
Virginia, until about the time that Pilmoor and Boardman 
left the country and returned to England. Jesse Lee dis- 
tinctly says that " in the beginning of 1774, Robert Williams 
began to form societies in Virginia, and made out a plan for a 
six weeks' circuit, which extended from Petersburg over Roan- 
oke River some distance into North Carolina." t 

The precise time of the actual founding of Methodism in 
Virginia has not hitherto been known. The discovery of Pil- 
moor's manuscript narrative of his ministry in this country, 
under Mr. Wesley, has established many facts which were not 
previously confirmed. It has also brought to our knowledge 
many significant and interesting things concerning which 
nothing was known. Among these is the fact that he, and not 
Robert Williams, founded Methodism south of the Potomac. 
The first society in Virginia of which there is any record was 
not in Norfolk, but in Portsmouth. It was formed on the 
fourteenth day of November, 1772. Of its origin Pilmoor 
gives the following account : 

" Had a vast multitude [in Portsmouth] to hear me read 
and explain the Rules of the Society. When I had done, as 
they have been deeply convinced of their need of a Saviour 
and are truly desirious to flee from the wrath to come, I 
joined twenty-seven of them who are determined to seek the 
Lord while he may be found." 

The society at Norfolk was formed two days later. Of that 
event, so interesting and potent in the history of Southern 
Methodism, Pilmoor furnishes the account which here fol- 
lows : 

"Thursday, 16 [November, 1772]. Having proposed to 
form a society in Norfolk I went to the preaching house and 
gave an exhortation on the nature and necessity of meeting 
together to help build each other up in the faith of the gos- 

* Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. I., pp. 85, 87, 290. 
t Lee's History of the Methodists, p. 51. 



PILMOOR FOUNDS METHODISM IN NORFOLK, VA. 357 

pel. I then withdrew to Captain Carson's, where I laid the 
foundation of a society by joining twenty-six of them together, 
who are likely to war a good warfare and obtain the victory 
through the blood of the Lamb. This makes my heart right 
glad and causes me to rejoice in God my Saviour. I have 
long wept and prayed that God would raise up a people in 
this place, and now my prayer is answered, and I clap my 
hands exultingly in Hallelujahs to the Lord, the King." , 

The two societies which Joseph Pilmoor organized in the 
twin cities of Portsmouth and Norfolk on Tuesday and Thurs- 
day, respectively, November fourteenth and sixteenth, 1772, 
are believed to have been the first in Virginia — at least there 
is no record of any societies that were earlier. Dr. Stevens 
says Williams "did for Methodism in Virginia what Embury 
did for it in New York and Strawbridge in Maryland," * which 
is saying that he founded it there. Stevens also declares that 
the society in Norfolk was " the germ of the denomination in 
the State ; " t therefore, as he asserts that Williams founded 
Methodism in Virginia, and also that the Norfolk society was 
its germ, he in effect asserts that Williams formed that soci- 
ety. We now know that this is incorrect. The errors which 
so long have been rife on this subject are now dissipated by 
the hand of Pilmoor, from whom we derive the facts respect- 
ing the origin of Methodism in Portsmouth and Norfolk. We 
witness the scenes, we see the preacher welcoming the candi- 
dates and joining them in sacred fellowship according to 
Methodism. 

In the autumn of 1772 William Watters went forth to 
preach. He has narrated the circumstances attending his en- 
trance upon the itinerancy in his volume of interesting remi- 
niscences. Besides the other valuable services he rendered 
to American Methodism, Kobert Williams introduced Wat- 
ters into its ministry. Watters says : "Being fully persuaded 
of my call to the ministry, and that it was my duty to go 
wherever a kind Providence should point out the way, I cheer- 
fully accepted the invitation of that pious servant of the 

* Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. L, p. 87. 
+ Ibid., p. 85. 



358 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Lord, Kobert Williams, and set out with him and under his 
care in October, 1772, for Norfolk, in Virginia, being just 
twenty-one years of age, having known the Lord seventeen 
months, and been exhorting about five or six." 

They held meetings in several places before they reached 
Baltimore, where they passed the Sabbath. There Watters 
preached, which was " the third time," he says, " of my 
speaking from a text." Asbury had not then seen Baltimore, 
but not long afterwards he made his first appearance in that 
part of Maryland where Pilmoor labored the preceding sum- 
mer. 

From Baltimore Williams and Watters proceeded south- 
ward. At Bladenburg, says Watters, " the landlord was ex- 
ceedingly attentive to us, and received a word of exhortation 
with apparent thankfulness, but appeared a stranger to 
heart-religion." At Georgetown Williams preached one 
evening " to a large room full of the inhabitants." Thence 
they crossed the Potomac to Virginia, and went by way of 
Alexandria to King William Court House. There a Mr. 
Martin invited them to lodgings, and also to preach the fol- 
lowing day, which was the Sabbath. Watters says "Mr. 
Williams preached there in the forenoon, and at the Court 
House in the afternoon. The congregations, seeing they had 
but a few hours' notice, were tolerably large, but discovered 
great ignorance of experimental religion." They found Mrs. 
Martin, the wife of their host, " under some awakenings, and 
endeavored to advise and encourage her." A near neighbor 
invited them to lodge with him, and showed them " all the 
hospitality of a Virginian." As they journeyed thence Will- 
iams preached several times, " and made it a point," says 
Watters, " to introduce religious conversation at every con- 
venient opportuity as we rode or sat at the fireside in tav- 
erns and in private houses. We found very few in the course 
of three hundred miles who knew experimentally anything of 
the Lord Jesus Christ." 

Watters does not give the date of their arrival at Norfolk, 
but Pilmoor tells us that it was November 18, 1772. The 
day after he formed the Norfolk Society Pilmoor spent the 



ARRIVAL OF WILLIAMS AND WATTERS IN NORFOLK 359 

morning in study, and afterward visited the family of Cap- 
tain Campbell, in Norfolk, where he found several more who 
desired to be received into the society. He preached in the 
evening and the next day, Saturday, November 18th, "X 
went over the water with Mr. Williams and Mr. Watters, 
who arrived here to-day," says Pilmoor. They met the 
society " over the water," * though not in private, and Pil- 
moor admitted several new members. 

Williams and Watters were received by the Norfolk 
friends very kindly. The latter, however, was not favorably 
impressed by the religious tone of the Methodists at Norfolk, 
who had just been united into a society. Pilmoor strove to 
check what he deemed the excessive exhibitions of fervor by 
the Methodists in Maryland, among whom Watters lived ; 
and it may be taken for granted that he did not train his Vir- 
ginia converts after their model. 

" Such Methodists," Watters declares, " I had never seen, 
nor did I suppose there were such upon earth. My experi- 
ence and warm feelings led me to conclude that all who bore 
the name must be like those with whom I had been ac- 
quainted in the neighborhood I had left. Many hundreds 
attended preaching, but were the most hardened, wild, and 
ill-behaved of any people I had ever beheld." He thought 
the prospect was better in Portsmouth, but did not think the 
work was very thorough in either town. The ardent young 
preacher did not sufficiently appreciate the condition of those 
whom he criticised, who were but just becoming acquainted 
with Methodism. We can see how Watters quickly received 
an unfavorable impression of the Norfolk people. Pilmoor 
says that on the twentieth of November, 1772, he " had a 
comfortable meeting with the preachers at Mr. Stephenson's. 
In the evening Mr. Williams preached, but the people dis- 
liked him so that they made a most horrible noise, so that I 
was obliged to go and sit among them to keep them in order. 
When they saw me they were ashamed, and behaved very 
well the rest of the time." Such rude behavior by a congre- 

*This I understand to have been Portsmouth, which is "over the water" of 
the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. 



360 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



gation was not calculated to give a fervent young itinerant a 
very favorable opinion of their piety. This occasion was 
only two days after the arrival of Williams, and the dislike 
shown to him, therefore, must have been excited in them 
when he was in Norfolk previously, at which time, as we 
have seen, they inferred from his language and manner in his 
introductory sermon that he was not in his right mind.* 

Williams preached in the morning after his arrival, which 
was Sunday, November 19, 1772, and Pilmoor preached at 
Norfolk the same night to a congregation which was "very 
large, and wild enough in the beginning, but a solemn awe 
soon seized upon them, and all were still until the sermon 
was done." The last Sunday night of November Pilmoor 
preached at Norfolk to a very large assembly, and the next 
day he " devoted to study and to visiting the people, whom 
God has awakened." The day after this he preached in 
Portsmouth, where, he declares, " prejudice is generally re- 
moved, and the people gladly receive the truth. Wednesday, 
as Mr. Williams was to preach, I was glad to take my place 
among the people to prevent confusion, and had the happi- 
ness to see them behave pretty well till near the conclusion, 
when some of them were a little noisy, but nothing like what 
was expected." The Norfolk audiences, it seems, were prone 
to be rowdyish when Williams addressed them. 

Watters "set off for the country to preach" on the 
twenty-third of November, and Pilmoor " met the society 
and joined four new members, who bid fair for the kingdom 
of heaven." Afterward two men invited him to preach at 
Pasquatauk, in North Carolina. 

In relation to the prospect in this Southern field, and of 
the importance of staying to nurture the germinating seed 
of the word, Pilmoor thus speaks : " The longer I stay in 
these parts the more I am desired to preach, and have by far 
the greater success. Frequent changes among gospel preach- 
ers may keep up the spirits of some kinds of people, but are 
never likely to promote the spirit of the gospel, nor increase 
true religion. Had I left Norfolk when some persons would 

* See pages 354-355. 



PILMOOR PREPARING TO GO FURTHER SOUTH 361 



have had me, I should have formed no society, either there or at 
Portsmouth. Now we have a goodly company in each place." 

Watters left the town after a few weeks, " and went into 
the country to form, if possible, a small circuit, but was soon 
much discouraged to see the stupid blindness and the brutal 
wickedness of the people." Yet he was treated in the main 
respectfully, and met with little opposition. "My soul," 
says Watters, " longed day and night to see the words of the 
Lord sinking deep into the hearts of the people, and until 
this was the case I could but mourn and give myself to fast- 
ing and prayer. In a few places I met with some little en- 
couragement, and a few faithful, though afflicted, friends, 
with whom I often took sweet counsel. My good friend, 
William Owen, was one of my great confidants, and often re- 
freshed my spirits. His house was at all times a home for me 
while in a distant country." With this gentleman Pilmoor 
also enjoyed pleasant intercourse, and found hospitality in 
his country home. 

Pilmoor soon left Norfolk and journeyed southward. 
Watters's narrative is not well punctuated with dates, there- 
fore it is less useful to the historian than otherwise it would 
be. He errs in saying that Pilmoor started from Norfolk for 
the remote South " in the latter part of the winter ; " he 
should have said in the early part of it. Watters probably 
wrote from memory many years after the event. Another 
example is this of the persistent faultiness of tradition. 

The last day of November, 1772, Pilmoor was preparing 
for his journey to South Carolina, but was still subjected to 
delay. " I have been waiting here for several weeks," he 
writes, " but something or other has always happened to keep 
me in these parts longer than I intended. I am resigned, as 
I hope it is the guiding hand of the Lord. Friday [Decem- 
ber 1], after visiting the people, I preached in the evening 
with great freedom. Saturday I preached in Portsmouth, 
and found the people in a prosperous way and greatly con- 
firmed in the doctrines of grace. My heart begins to unite 
with these dear affectionate people more than ever." 

Robert Williams had an appointment " over the water" 



362 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



on December fifth, and Pilmoor went to hear him. " When 
he saw me," says the latter, " he would not preach, so I was 
obliged to preach for him. Afterward I spent the evening at 
Colonel Yeal's, where I am as happy as if I belonged to 
the family." When Pilmoor returned he found that Mr. 
Taylor had brought him a single-horse chaise, with which he 
was "to travel to Charleston." This was necessary, he says, 
" as I shall be obliged to carry provender for the horse and 
food for myself, on account of the long and dreary stages 
through the woods. The following day I was much taken up 
in preparing for my journey to the South, and settling things 
relating to the work of the Lord in these parts." 

Pilmoor preached at Portsmouth on Sunday morning, the 
twelfth of December, 1772. The same night at Norfolk, 
" notwithstanding the severe cold, we had a very large con- 
gregation," he writes, " to hear my farewell sermon. My 
heart was greatly affected at the thought of leaving them." 

The labors of that Sunday being over, in the retirement 
ment of his chamber, amid the silence of night, Pilmoor se- 
riously and gratefully reviewed the period he had spent in 
Norfolk. " I found great cause of thankfulness," he says, 
" (1) that I had been enabled to preach the whole counsel of 
God without being moved by the fear of man ; (2) that I 
was clear of the blood of sinners ; (3) that I have been pre- 
served by the grace of God from sinning against him and 
dishonoring his cause ; (4) that I have not labored in vain. 
The face of things is wonderfully changed for the better, and 
near forty persons are joined in society, most of whom will I 
trust be my crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord." 

He took leave of his " weeping friends " in Norfolk, Mon- 
day, December 13, 1772, and the same evening " preached 
my farewell sermon in Portsmouth," he writes. " I had great 
engagedness of heart, and continued preaching near two hours 
to a people who seem as if they would continue till the brea 7 : 
of day hearing the word and wrestling with God in prayer." 
The following day, December 14, 1772, in company with 
Robert Williams, he ate breakfast at Colonel Veal's and pro- 
ceeded on his journey southward, preaching as he went. 



CHAPTEE XX. 



pilmook's joueney to chaeleston and savannah. 

Pilmooe was still following his " tutelary cloud." Beach- 
ing the residence of Mr. Hughes, many friends who heard of 
his arrival went thither, and after singing and prayer they 
affectionately parted. Pushing on, he came to New Mill 
Creek, fifteen miles from Norfolk, where he passed the night 
in the home of a Mr. J effrey. 

Here he felt the magnitude of the adventure upon which 
he had entered, but was undismayed. " The difficulties before 
me appeared very great," he writes, " but my trust was in 
God and he will provide." The next day he reached Mr. 
Handle's, where he " preached and the word was sent with 
power to the hearts of the people." After they had dined 
Mr. Handle accompanied him " to a place about fifteen miles 
further towards Carolina," and all the way they published 
preaching for the next day. 

Not having a private room Pilmoor retired into the 
woods the next day for devotion. About noon he preached, 
but feared that " the poor ignorant people " knew but little 
about even the rudiments of Christianity. He dined at a Mr. 
Sylvester's, and also preached there in the evening " to a good 
congregation." The following day he went to Colonel Will- 
iams's, where he always met " the most friendly reception." 
On Sunday he preached in a court-house in North Carolina, 
and he tells us that several of the people were so affected 
that they fainted away, and all were as solemn as death." 
The day ensuing he preached at a chapel, and the next day 
set off for Indiantown, where he met the Rev. Mr. Abbott, a 
Baptist minister, who had invited him to visit his people. 
He had a fine congregation in the evening, " and the Lord was 



364 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



present." The next day he preached " to a vast multitude of 
Predestinarians, but resolved not to grieve them, and so 
dwelt upon experimental religion. The people were serious 
and thankful for the word." Welcoming the opportunities of 
another day, he hastened eight miles, and by the Rev. Mr. 
Abbott's appointment, he preached a funeral sermon on " Be 
ye therefore Ready " to " a great multitude." Crossing the 
river at Harford Ferry, he drove over a very intricate road 
through the woods to a place where he tarried all night and 
preached in a chapel on Sunday morning. In the afternoon 
he went to Edenton, North Carolina, "and preached in the 
court-house to a great many people on ' What Think Ye of 
Christ ? ' " On Monday he had several gentlemen breakfast 
with him who had frequently heard him in New York. It 
is very apparent that his sermons in that city and Philadel- 
phia had echoed widely over the land, and contributed to 
his comfort and usefulness in the South. Breakfast and 
company over, he preached at eleven o'clock in Edenton to a 
large audience. " The word was sent with power to many 
hearts and caused them to weep for their sins." He 
found the church at Edenton " a poor, damp, dirty place, 
where they have preaching only once in three weeks." Here 
the tavern-keeper declined compensation for Pilmoor's enter- 
tainment. He journeyed forward and lodged at another place, 
and the next morning reached Bath in time for breakfast. 
At Bath he " found a pretty little church," but says " the 
parish, like many others, has no minister ; I have passed 
through four counties, and am now in the fifth, and not one 
Church minister in them all." This was in North Carolina. 
Of this province Pilmoor wrote : " It is 200 miles wide, and is 
settled near 400 miles in length from the sea, and the Church 
established as in England, yet in all this country there are 
but eleven ministers." Surely there was need for the Wes- 
ley an itinerant in the South. There can be but little doubt 
that Methodism preserved the greater part of that beautiful 
region from a state of semi-barbarism, as it did also the 
western frontiers. 

Crossing a ferry, which consumed about an hour and a 



PILMOOK PLEASED WITH NEW BERNE, N. C. 365 

half, Pilmoor hastened to a Mr. Moor's. The next day, De- 
cember 24, 1772, he drove with difficulty through the woods to 
New Berne. " This," he declares, " has been the most trying- 
day I have had since I left Norfolk." He attended church in 
New Berne on Christmas-day, and says that he "heard a 
sensible, useful sermon. Afterward the Lord greatly re- 
freshed my soul at the sacrament. In the afternoon I sent 
for a man whom I had been told was a hearer of the Metho- 
dists in London and desired him to apply for the court- 
house, which was readily granted. I sent a person about the 
town to inform the inhabitants that I should preach at six 
o'clock in the evening. At the time appointed I went to the 
court-house and had the genteelest congregation I have seen 
since I left Philadelphia. Some of them invited me to their 
houses and behaved with the utmost politeness." 

At New Berne he dined with Mr. Edwards, Secretary of 
the Governor, and " was treated with the highest respect. 
In the evening most of the genteel people in the town at- 
tended the preaching." Pilmoor was entertained at breakfast 
and dinner by several gentlemen in New Berne with marked 
courtesy. He spent a week there preaching to large audi- 
ences. 

He was delighted with the society he met in this town. 
" In all my travels through the world I have met with none 
like the people of New Berne," he exclaims. " Instead of go- 
ing to balls and assemblies, as the people of fashion do, es- 
pecially at this season of the year, they come driving in their 
coaches to hear the word of the Lord, and wait upon God 
in his ordinances ; and their behavior to me at the last was 
such as I cannot pass over in silence without ingratitude. 
The morning I was to leave town two gentlemen waited on 
me and delivered me a letter in which several small bills of 
North Carolina money were inclosed, which the gentlemen 
sent me as a token of their love and respect. Thus the Lord 
prepares my way before me and my wants are all supplied. 
I set off on this journey trusting in Providence alone, and 
hitherto I have wanted nothing." 

Pilmoor left New Berne, January 1, 1773, and went for- 



366 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT 1 1ST AMERICA 



ward about 17 miles to Fox's tavern. There, seeing many 
people walking about, he spoke to several about their salva- 
tion, and proposed to join with them " in singing and prayer, 
to which they readily assented." He " was greatly blessed in 
calling on God for them." 

Travel was difficult and attended with anxiety and indeed 
with danger. "As I have no guide," he writes, "and am 
totally unacquainted with the road, it is rather disagreeable 
travelling in the woods in the night." The following day 
night overtook him, and it was long after dark before he 
could find a place to lodge. At Mr. Collier's, fifteen miles 
from Wilmington, he found entertainment at last. When he 
left New Berne excessive rains had removed a bridge so that 
he adopted the expedient of placing planks across the 
stream, on which he put the wheels of his chaise, and so took 
it over and then returned for his horse. 

Our traveller reached Wilmington, N. C, Sunday, January 
3, 1773. He found there a young man who had been a member 
of the society in Philadelphia, and he, with a sea-captain who 
had seen Pilmoor in the North, published preaching for him. 
That evening he preached to a large congregation. The next 
evening he proclaimed his message in the court-house. For 
a few days he tarried at Wilmington, and was entertained at 
a public house. The landlord declined compensation and 
urged him to stay longer. Gladly would he have done so, as 
there were many people in that town, but he felt that he 
must hasten to Charleston. In the afternoon of the sixth 
day of the year 1773 he left Wilmington, but found the 
roads so bad that he " was obliged to stop by the way." He 
reached Brunswick, N. C, the ensuing day, and the next day 
he preached in the church to a fine congregation. The suc- 
ceeding day (Sunday) was " wet and disagreeable ; " the con- 
gregation at the church was small, yet Pilmoor writes : " God 
enabled me to preach with power." 

There being no vessel ready to sail for South Carolina 
the itinerant " set off by land." After travelling about 
twenty miles he reached the house of a Baptist, whose name 
was Moor, with whom he " had great comfort in religious 



ADVENTURES IN SOUTHERN TRAVEL 



367 



conversation." The next day he rode forward through a 
dreary woods, and saw nothing but trees for many miles. 
The road was good, " and at length I spied a little cottage," 
he says, " about half a mile from the road, and was glad to 
find a few blades of Indian corn for my horse. Having pro- 
vision for myself with me I made out very well." 

The next day's journey was exceedingly disagreeable. 
Heavy sands, a terrible rain-storm, and night travel made it 
not only difficult but perilous. The following day, January 
15, 1773, was one of peculiar perplexity. In the morning 
" I set forward for the ferry," he says, " but had not gone 
far before I broke one of my wheels. This distressed me 
very much. Seeing a house at a small distance I went to 
try if I could borrow a wheel, which I readily obtained, and 
it did pretty well. I then went forward through the woods 
to the ferry. As it was late they would not put me over, so 
I was obliged to wait until the next day. I have travelled 
many thousands of miles in England and Wales, and have 
now seen much of North America, but this day's journey 
has been the most distressing of all." 

His perils of waters and his wanderings in wilderness 
solitudes were not over. The next morning, being afraid that 
the wind would rise, he resolved to cross, as soon as possible, 
a river, which he fails to designate, but which no doubt was 
the Great Pedee River. " We were on the water before sun- 
rise," he says, " and the river is but two miles over, yet the 
wind blew so fresh that it was with the utmost difficulty I 
escaped. I had to pursue my way through the woods, where 
there was no kind of road. At length I got to the road, and 
after travelling many miles came to a little tavern, where I got 
some refreshments for ni3 T self and my horse. I then set for- 
ward again and got to Santee Ferry just as the boat was go- 
ing off. I got over without interruption, but the road from 
this river to the next, which is about a mile, is the very worst 
I ever beheld. I durst not ride in the chaise at all, and 
was afraid the horse would break his legs among the trees 
that are laid across the mud for a road. But I got safely over 
and met the other boat ready for me. I went on board and 



368 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



got over just before the night came on. I waded through 
the water and mud in many places. I came to the Inn al- 
most covered over with dirt, but I had reason to praise my 
God that I had been preserved from misfortune when in 
such imminent danger." 

As he rode onward the next day over a very bad road Pil- 
moor saw that his horse began to fail. In this dilemma 
friendly aid came quickly to him. " Three gentlemen came 
up," he writes, " and one of them told me he would lend me 
his horse to draw me to the public house where I intended 
to stay. So we put his horse to the chaise and he rode 
with me to the place, where I met with a family of pious, 
genteel people, who gladly spent the evening with me in 
reading, singing, and prayer. Here I found a young man in a 
deep consumption, to whom I spoke with the greatest plain- 
ness of the necessity of preparing for death." 

The following day his horse held out, with slow driving, 
till he reached the ferry. From that point our Wesleyan 
traveller saw Charleston, and the same night, January 18, 
1773, he entered that city. " It was very dark," he says, 
" and I was an utter stranger in the town. I did not know 
what way to go, but a negro boy offered to go with me to - 
Mr. Crosse's, a publican, to whom I brought a letter from 
Maryland. It appeared to be but an indifferent place ; how- 
ever, I was glad of any place where I could get a little rest." 

More than five weeks before Pilmoor left Norfolk. The 
distance travelled probably was less than four hundred 
miles. He had made a trying and laborious winter journey 
through a country of forests, rivers, and of wide and sparsely 
inhabited savannas, on which fell the soft light of a Southern 
sun. Now that he was safe in Charleston he wrote: "My 
way from Virginia has been very rugged indeed ; the trials 1 
have met with very considerable ; my expenses very great ; 
yet the Lord has not suffered me to want, nor yet to be in 
the least discouraged." Not content with his surroundings 
at the tavern, Pilmoor sought private lodgings, which he ob- 
tained at a Mr. Swinton's. As they were professors, he 
anticipated joining with them in family worship. But 



PILMOOR IN CHARLESTON 



369 



Swinton told him that as the company in his house was 
mixed, it might not be agreeable, and that family prayer was 
very uncommon in Charleston. " What ! " exclaimed Pilmoor, 
"family prayer uncommon among Presbyterians?" "It is 
too much neglected," was the reply. "You, sir, know what 
is convenient in your own house," rejoined the itinerant, and 
retired to his room. 

In Charleston he met with the Kev. Oliver Hart, of whose 
church, a few years before, Mary Thorn, the Methodist hero- 
ine of Philadelphia, was a member. He treated Pilmoor 
with fraternal courtesy and invited him to his pulpit. He 
was pastor of the " Particular," as distinguished from the 
" General," Baptists. The two preachers met on one occa- 
sion at a friend's dinner-table in Charleston, and Pilmoor de- 
scribed Hart as " not only sensible, but truly evangelical and 
very devout." The Wesley an preacher tarried a fortnight in 
the town and preached thirteen times. His ministry seems 
to have been very well received in Charleston, notwith- 
standing the repellent response he met when he proposed 
evening preaching, namely, that " it would be impracticable 
on account of the mob." After his arrival he went with two 
gentlemen to a Mr. Tou, who had charge of the General Baptist 
Meeting House, which was without a minister, to apply for the 
use of the pulpit. It was readily granted. There at six in the 
evening of January, 22, 1773, he preached his first sermon 
in the Palmetto City. The congregation "was not large, 
but very serious. Two ministers were present." Mr. Hart 
thanked him for the sermon. 

Five days before going away Pilmoor gladly accepted the 
hospitality of a Baptist, which was offered him for as long as 
he should continue in the town. He enjoyed his work in 
Charleston. "My heart is greatly united with the people of 
this town," he wrote. Near the close of this visit he exclaimed, 
" Charleston bids fair for a revival of religion." The last 
sermon he preached there before leaving for Georgia was on 
Sunday evening, January, 31, 1773. " The house was so full 
it was with the utmost difficulty I could get to the pulpit," he 
writes, " and there were hundreds outside that could not get 



370 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

in at all. I desired them to open the windows, and I be- 
lieve most of them heard distinctly." 

Leaving his horse to rest until his return, Pilmoor 
started, February 1, on "a poor, mean," borrowed creature for 
Savannah. That evening he "reached Kantoul's Bridge," 
having made about sixteen miles. The next day he came to 
Ashepoo ; the next to Allison's tavern ; and about noon of the 
next " to Purysburg." The boat was gone and Pilmoor was 
obliged to remain over night. The next morning he " set off 
very early. As they had no proper boat for horses, we were 
glad to fasten the canoes together with ropes, and put the 
horses' forefeet in the one and the hinder feet in the other. 
There was a great freshet in the river which carried us 
rapidly down the stream for seven miles. Then we had to 
turn up a creek and had the stream against us, but the 
negroes pulled very stoutly, and in about two hours put me 
safe ashore. After a little refreshment I hastened on and 
about two o'clock [February 5, 1773] I arrived in Savannah." 

He noted various points of interest, which he describes. 
Savannah, he remarks, stands "on a rising ground, on a 
pretty good river of the same name, which is navigable up to 
the town, and carries on a considerable trade. There are 
about three thousand inhabitants, white and black. The 
houses are part of brick, the rest of timber, not very large, 
but exceedingly neat. There are three churches — one for the 
English Episcopalians, one for the Lutherans, and one for 
the Independents. As the soil is very sandy and the streets 
not paved, it is exceedingly inconvenient and disagreeable, 
especially when the weather is hot." John Wesley wrote 
from the same town to his mother, March 18, 1736 : " The 
place is pleasant beyond imagination, and by all I can learn 
exceedingly healthful, even in summer, for those who are not 
intemperate." 

Pilmoor attended a lecture at the Kev. Mr. Zubly's meet- 
ing in the evening and handed to him letters he had brought 
from Charleston. The next day he took up his abode at Mr. 
Zubly's house. The latter had been prejudiced against Mr. 
Wesley by the Circular Letter on the Arminian Controversy, 



PILMOOR IN SAVANNAH 



371 



which had reached Georgia. Notwithstanding Pilinoor was 
strongly recommended to him, Zubly told him he could not 
admit him to his pulpit until he " satisfied him concerning the 
doctrine of merit and justification by works." " As I do 
totally renounce every idea of human merit," says Pilmoor, 
" I soon gave him full satisfaction, and he offered me his 
church to preach in on Sunday." 

The Circular Letter above referred to was, no doubt, that 
which the Rev. Walter Shirley, of England, issued in reply 
to several propositions concerning works in their relation to 
salvation, which were published by Mr. Wesley in the Minutes 
of his Conference in 1770. In that deliverance, Wesley ut- 
tered such words as the following : 

" With regard to working for life. In fact every believer, 
till he comes to glory, works for as well as from life. 

" We have received it as a maxim that a man is to do 
nothing in order to justification. Nothing can be more false. 
Whoever repents should do works meet for repentance. And 
if this is not to find favor, what is he to do them for ? 

" Is not this salvation by works ? 

" Not by the merit of works, but by works as a condition. 

" As to merit itself, of which we have been so dreadfully 
afraid. We are rewarded according to our works, yea, because 
of our works. How does this differ from, for the sake of 
works. And how differs this from Secundum merita operum ? 
Which is no more than as our works deserve. Can you split 
this hair ? I doubt. I cannot." 

Shirley attacked these and similar declarations in the 
Minutes of 1770, and sent forth his strictures thereon in what 
is known as " The Circular Letter." Fletcher came forth in 
defence of the Minutes, and in this controversy his celebrated 
u Checks to Antinomianism " had their origin. It seems that 
Shirley's " Circular Letter " had reached Savannah before 
Pilmoor arrived there. 

Pilmoor enjoyed the sacrament at Mr. Zubly 's church on 
Sabbath morning, and in the afternoon at the Episcopal 
Church he heard a sermon "on the great duty of prayer," 
but the doctrine, he declares, was " very imperfect. What a 



372 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



pity," he adds, "that those who profess to be servants of 
Jesus should have so little to say for their Master ! " In the 
evening he preached " in Mr. Zubly's meeting." Descending 
from the pulpit he met a young gentleman who, he says, " has 
often heard me in Philadelphia, and he introduced me to 
several others, who invited me to go with them to Mr. AVright's? 
where I spent the evening in great happiness, and we con- 
cluded the day with praise and prayer." 

Thus, in the town where thirty-six years before John 
Wesley landed for the purpose of preaching to the Indians, a 
man who was preaching in America by the appointment of 
the same Wesley proclaimed the Gospel. Mr. Wesley began 
his ministry there March 7, 1736 ; Pilmoor, Wesley's mission- 
ary, began his there February 7, 1773. Wesley but imper- 
fectly understood the way of salvation when he was in 
Savannah. " Self-denial and mortification were to him the 
chief means of holiness." * Pilmoor, in the same place, 
declared, " I do utterly renounce every idea of human merit 
and all justification by works ; " the very doctrine with which 
Luther stirred Europe, and by which the now more enlight- 
ened Wesley, with the co-operation of his followers, was 
beginning to move the English-speaking world. 

The great hymnist of Methodism, Charles Wesley, was 
likewise in Savannah, and there is reason for the belief that a 
number of his hymns were written while he was in America. 
Lady Oglethorpe, while residing in the Governor's residence, 
upon Jekyl Island, near the coast of Southern Georgia, wrote 
to her father-in-law that " Charles Wesley dwells with us 
upon the island and is zealous to save the souls of the 
Indians, who come hither to fish and hunt. Mr. Wesley has 
the gift of verse and has written many sweet hymns, which we 
sing." That noble and solemn hymn, 

" Lo ! on a narrow neck of land, 

'Twixt two unbounded seas, I stand," 

was written by Charles Wesley on Jekyl Island. He wrote 
from the island to Lady Oglethorpe, who was temporarily in 

* Whitehead's Life of Wesley, Vol. II. , p. 11. 



CHAELES WESLEY WRITES A HYMN WHEN HERE 373 



Savannah, the history of the composition of that grand lyric : 
" Last evening I wandered to the north end of the Island, and 
stood upon the narrow point which your ladyship will recall 
as there projecting into the ocean. The vastness of the 
watery waste, as compared with my standing place, called to 
mind the briefness of human life and the immensity of its 
consequences, and my surroundings inspired me to write the 
inclosed hymn, 

" * Lo ! on a narrow neck of land, 

'Twixt two unbounded seas, I stand,' 

which I trust may please your ladyship, weak and feeble as it 
is when compared with the songs of the sweet Psalmist of 
Israel." Thus it appears that the date of the origin of this 
hymn is 1736. It was not written at Land's End, in England, 
as has been believed, but on " the north end of Jekyl 
Island." * 

Pilmoor's second sermon in Savannah was delivered 
February 8, 1773, he having dined that day at a Mr. Wright's, 
where, he says, " piety and politeness are happily united." 

He remained only ten days in Savannah, one of which he 
spent in visiting Whitefield's Orphan House. His description 
of it is interesting : " Wednesday, March 10, Mr. Wood, 
a lawyer, and a young man from Boston accompanied me," 
he says, " to the Orphan House, twelve miles from Savannah. 
The road was through the pine trees, which being perpetu- 
ally green, make it remarkably pleasant. But the situation 
of the house is by no means agreeable. It stands on a small 
creek and is almost surrounded by barren sand that produces 
nothing but pines. The house itself is well enough. In the 
evening I preached to the family, Thursday morning we had 
prayers in the chapel. Afterward I returned to Savannah 
and preached in the evening. Friday was the time for Mr. 
Zubly's Dutch lecture, but the town was in confusion on 
account of his excellency, Governor Wright, who was expected 

* I am indebted for this account of this immortal hymn of Charles Wesley's to 
an article in the Nashville Christian Advocate, May 3, 1894, by the Rev. C. S. 
Nutter. 



374 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

this day, so there was no service. Saturday the Governor 
came, the guns were fired, the militia mustered, and all the 
gentlemen in the town attended to congratulate him on his 
.safe arrival, and the whole town was full of festivity. Never- 
theless we had a pretty large congregation in the evening." 

Sunday was wet and gloomy. He concluded the day, 
his last in the city, " with my kind friend Mr. Wright," he 
says, " who has behaved to me with the greatest tenderness 
and civility." We shall soon see him pursuing his journey 
to the North. 



\ 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Robert williams's forward movement in Virginia in 1773. 

When Pilmoor went South from Norfolk lie left Robert 
Williams at Colonel Yeal's, near Portsmouth. Williams soon 
responded to a call from Petersburg, Dinwiddie County. In 
that county he met the Rev. Devereux Jarratt, who in his 
preaching and methods was much like the Methodists. He 
and the Rev. Archibald McRoberts, of a neighboring parish, 
were zealous and awakening preachers of the Church of 
England. 

Jarratt was a plain native Virginian. Born January 6, 
1732, he was early left fatherless and poor. He attended a 
country school and divided his vacations between farm work 
and training game-cocks and race-horses. When nineteen 
he carried all his possessions, except one shirt, on his person 
into Albemarle County, where he taught a school for nine 
pounds seven shillings a year. He then was an uncouth and 
ignorant young man, but with some knowledge of arithmetic. 
Afterward he taught in the family of a pious woman, who 
read Elavel's sermons to him. Though at first they produced 
no effect upon him, he at length became deeply serious, and 
after a lengthened endeavor to obtain righteousness he re- 
ceived a joy unspeakable. He contemplated joining the 
Presbyterian Church, but on further reflection decided to 
seek Episcopal ordination. He went to England in the au- 
tumn of 1762 and was ordained in London in the beginning 
of the following year. He was chosen rector of Bath parish 
August 29, 1763. In the parish were Saponey, Hatch's 
Run, and Butterwood Churches. The parish was in a deplor- 
able condition morally, and he doubted if one family within 
its extensive limits had even the form of Godliness. His 



376 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



preaching was positive, bold, direct, searching, saving. " I 
endeavored," he says, "to enforce in the most alarming colors 
the guilt of sin, the entire depravity of human nature, the aw- 
ful danger mankind are in by nature and by practice, the tre- 
mendous curse to which they are obnoxious, and their utter 
inability to evade the stroke of divine justice by their own 
power, merit, or good works." 

When he began this startling preaching but seven or eight 
persons in any one of his churches received the Holy Commun- 
ion. Ten years later he had nine hundred, if not a thousand, 
communicants in his three churches.* To many, such preach- 
ing was not pleasing, and there was an outcry against it, but 
the preacher continued to proclaim his message. The com- 
mon people in increasing numbers went to hear him, but for 
a year he saw no abiding effect of his ministry, except that 
some were less profane, and he believed that at times some of 
his hearers were alarmed. Jarratt says : " In 1765 the power 
of God was more sensibly felt by a few. These were con- 
strained to apply to me to inquire what they must do to be 
saved. And now I began to preach abroad as well as in 
private houses, and to meet little companies in the evenings 
and converse on divine things. I believe some this year were 
converted to God, and thenceforth the work of God slowly 
went on. In the years 1770 and 1771 we had a more contin- 
uous outpouring of the Spirit at a place in my parish called 
White Oak. It was here I first formed the people into a society 
that they might assist and strengthen each other. The good 
effects of this were soon apparent. Convictions were deep 
and lasting, and not only knowledge, but faith and love and 
holiness, continually increased. In the year 1772 the revival 
was more considerable, and extended in some places for fifty 
or sixty miles around. It increased still more the following 
year. In the spring of 1774 it was more remarkable than 
ever. The word preached was attended with such energy 
that some were pierced to the heart. Tears fell plentifully 
from the eyes of the hearers, and some were constrained to 
cry out. A goodly number were gathered in this year, both 

* Bennett's Memorials of Methodism in Virginia, p. 63. Richmond, 1871. 



WILLIAMS VISITS PETERSBURG, YA. 



377 



in my parish and in many of the neighboring counties. I 
formed several societies out of those who were convinced or 
converted, and found it a happy means of building up those 
that had believed and preventing the rest from losing their 
convictions." * 

Jarratt did not confine his labors within his parish, but 
went abroad, and soon had a circuit five or six hundred miles 
in extent. He attended upon his own parish on the Sabbath 
and itinerated all the week. He averaged five sermons a 
week and suffered criticism from his clerical brethren. 

Robert Williams was the first Wesleyan preacher that 
entered Jarratt 's parish. He went to Petersburg in February, 
1773, and his way was in part prepared for him there by a 
man who was converted through the ministry of the Rev. 
Archibald McEoberts. Waiters, who was then at Norfolk, 
says Williams preached in "Petersburg and the adjacent 
country for several months with great success, and he was 
the first Methodist preacher that had ever been in those 
parts. Mr. Jarratt and Mr. McEoberts both received him 
with open arms and bade him a hearty welcome to their 
parishes."! Watters travelled Brunswick Circuit, "in the 
lower parts of Virginia," a portion of the year 1777, and heard 
McEoberts " preach Christ and him crucified to a listening 
multitude," and remarks : "He was the first minister of the 
Church of England that ever I heard preach Christian experi- 
ence." In 1769 Gressett Davis " was convinced of sin " by 
the preaching of McEoberts. J In a letter to Mr. Wesley 
dated July 11, 1780, Davis says : " My eyes were opened to 
see the spirituality of the law. The word conversion was as 
new to me as if there had been no such term in the English 
language. As to Christians I knew of not one within twenty 
miles. In short, I did not know that it was the privilege of 

* Jarratt' s letter to Rankin, in Narrative of the Revival in Virginia, pp. 4, 5, 6. 
London, 177S. 

t Life of Watters, p. 34. 

X The Rev. Archibald McRoberts was a successful evangelist. Jarratt says : 
" A remarkable power attended his preaching and many were truly converted to 
God, not only in his parish, but in other parts where he was called to labor. 
We joined hand in hand in the great work." Later McRoberts became a Pres- 
byterian. 



378 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



any except ministers of the Gospel to feel what I now ex- 
perienced." 

In 1772 Gressett Davis became acquainted with a young 
man from Yorkshire, England, who had been a Wesleyan 
from his youth, and whose name was Nathaniel Young. 
" This young man," writes Davis to Wesley, " who I fear had 
lost the vital part of religion, an old Quaker, and myself hired 
the theatre in Petersburg, and bound ourselves to invite any 
and every sect and party who we thought preached the 
truth of the Gospel as far as conversion, to come and preach in 
the said house under this restriction, namely, that they should 
not intermeddle with the principles of Church government. 
We soon got many travelling preachers, more than at our set 
out we thought were in America — of Churchmen, Presby- 
terians, Baptists, and Quakers — to come and preach, though 
nothing yet appeared from the devil's agents but persecution. 

" In a few months after the house was opened good Robert 
Williams made a visit to Norfolk. Young and myself, both 
having connections in the mercantile line at Norfolk, invited 
the good old man up to this place. His entrance among us 
was in February, 1773. I informed this faithful servant of 
Christ that our faith was plighted to each other not to admit 
any who would not promise not to intermeddle with opinions. 
The old man replied we only wanted a change of heart and 
to preach up holiness of life. This we readily agreed to. He 
labored among us about the town and no fruit appeared for 
several weeks. We then furnished him a horse and he 
travelled into the country. In a short time a surprising work 
broke out in the country, which has since spread over every 
part of Virginia and North Carolina.""* 

In March, 1773, Williams first visited Jarratt, and re- 
mained in the region several weeks. He was in Norfolk again, 
as we learn from Pilmoor, April 13, 1773, and also on the 
twenty-seventh and the twenty-ninth of the same month, 
laboring in the Gospel. He soon went forth into the country 
again and returned to Dinwiddie County, for Jarratt, in a 
letter to Wesley, dated June 29, 1773, said Williams "has just 

* Bennett's Memorials of Methodism in Virginia. 



WILLIAMS VISITS THE KEY. DEVEREUX JARKATT 379 

now returned to my house from a long excursion in the back 
counties." Jarratt assures Wesley that "many people here 
heartily join with me in returning our most grateful acknowl- 
edgments for the concern you have shown for us in sending 
so many preachers to the American colonies. Two have 
preached for some time in Virginia — Mr. Pilmoor and Mr. 
Williams. I have never had the pleasure of seeiug Mr. 
Pilmoor, but by all I can learn he is a gracious soul and a 
good preacher." 

Jarratt knew very little of Methodism until he met Will- 
iams. He had heard both Wesley and Whitefield in London, 
but was not specially impressed thereby, though he says they 
both spoke well and to the purpose. ' ; The first Methodist 
preacher I ever saw or conversed with in Virginia," says Jar- 
ratt, " was Mr. Robert Williams, a plain, simple-hearted, 
pious man. This I believe was his general character. He 
came to my house in the year 1773. He stayed with me near 
a week and preached several sermons in my parish, most or 
all of which I heard. I liked his preaching very well, and 
especially the animated manner in which his discourses were 
delivered. I had much conversation with him concerning 
Mr. Wesley and the nature and design of Methodism. He 
informed me that the Methodists were true members of the 
Church of England — that their design was to build up and 
not divide the Chmch — that the preachers did not assume 
the office of priests, administered neither the ordinance of 
baptism nor the Lord's Supper, but looked to the parish 
ministers in all places for these — that they travelled to call 
sinners to repentance — to join proper subjects in society for 
mutual edification, and to do all they could for the spiritual 
edification of these societies." * 

Williams was many years in advance of the Methodist 
Book Concern in publishing and scattering Wesleyan litera- 
ture. Jarratt says : " Mr. Williams also furnished me with 
some of their books, and I became acquainted with the Min- 
utes of several of their Conferences. By these I was let 
into the general plan, and that ' he that left the Church left the 

* Life of Jarratt. 



380 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



Methodists' * I put a strong mark on these words. I felt 
much attachment to Mr. Williams and to other preachers who 
came after him. I received them into my house with great 
cordiality and treated them with disinterested benevolence. 
I hoped good would be done by their means, not only in 
promoting the unity of the Church, but also in calling sinners 
to repentance and establishing believers. As I had been ac- 
customed before this to collect and meet the people for re- 
ligious improvement, I could have no objection to religious 
societies or any prudential means that seemed to promise 
the edification of mankind. I therefore concurred in and en- 
couraged Christian societies, and exhorted such as had been 
my hearers in different parts of Carolina and Virginia, to join 
in society and admit the assistance of the Methodist preachers 
as helpers of their joy and establishment in religion. In 
some places where I had travelled and preached, a number of 
the people had objections against joining what was called a 
Methodist society ; they wished rather to continue in a so- 
ciety which took its denomination from me ; for I had drawn 
up some rules for societies and had begun to put them in 
practice in other places besides our own parish. But the 
principal reason against joining a Methodist society was the 
fear of being led thereby from the Church of England, which 
was very abhorrent from their sentiments. I, believing that 
the Methodists were really sincere in their profession of at- 
tachment to the Church, took much pains to remove that ob- 
jection. For this purpose I rode many a mile and endeavored 
to quiet the minds of the people by showing them that the 
Methodists were members of the Church, and could not be 
otherwise, because all that left the Church left the Metho- 
dists. My endeavors in this respect were successful, and 
many societies were soon established, and preachers were ap- 
pointed to take charge of them according to the rules of 
Methodism. I believe good was done and the work spread 
and prospered. I have been the more circumstantial in this 
account, because I have been censured by some for giving 

*This expression is in the English Wesleyan Minutes, which were the "Min- 
utes " Jarratt read. 



WILLIAMS INFORMS JARRATT ABOUT METHODISM 381 



the countenance I did to the Methodists and lay-preachers, 
persons, as many supposed, inimical to America.* From what 
I have said it must be apparent that my views were disinter- 
ested, and that what I did was done to promote the glory of 
God and the salvation of souls." f 

It is apparent from Jarratt's testimony that Williams, by 
his preaching, his conversations, and his books, was not an 
unskilful instrument in bringing into active co-operation 
with Methodism this prominent and powerful minister of the 
Church of England, whose services to the Wesleyan move- 
ment in the South were so great, so continuous, and so val- 
uable. Asbury labored in union with Jarratt, was often a 
guest in his house, and greatly appreciated his work. Kankin 
also mentions him with manifest affection, and informs us that 
about January, 1776, Jarratt requested that his parish might 
be included in Brunswick Circuit, " that all who chose it 
might have the privilege of meeting in class and being mem- 
bers of the society. He soon saw the salutary effects. Many 
that had but small desires before began to be much alarmed 
and labored earnestly after eternal life. In a little time 
many were deeply awakened and many tasted of the pardon- 
ing love of God. In a few months Mr. Jarratt saw more fruit 
of his labors than he had seen for many years, and he went on 
with the preachers hand in hand, both in doctrine and dis- 
cipline." t 

Jarratt's fellowship with the Methodist preachers in affec- 
tion and toil is illustrated by Rankin, who July 2, 1776, says : 
" I rode with Mr. Shadford to Mr. Jarratt's, who with Mrs. 
Jarratt received us with open arms. I preached the next day, 
not far from his house, to a deeply attentive congregation. 
Many were much affected at the preaching, but far more at 
the meeting of the society. Mr. Jarratt himself was con- 

* Almost all the Methodist preachers in America in that day were Englishmen, 
and, like Wesley, loyal to Great Britain. The controversy which brought on the war 
of independence was then rife, and for the reasons mentioned those preachers were 
often regarded with suspicion by those who favored the American cause. 

t The Life of the Rev. Devereux Jarratt, rector of Bath Parish, Dinwiddie 
County, Virginia. Written by himself. In a series of letters to the Rev. John 
Coleman. Pp. 107, 108, 109, 110, 111. Baltimore, 1806. 

% Narrative of the Revival of Religion in Virgii.ia, p. 28. London, 1778. 



382 



THE "WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



strained to praise God aloud for His great Love to him and 
to his people." * We have a similar example of Jarratt's 
friendship for and co-operation with the Methodists from 
William Watters, who in 1777 travelled Brunswick Circuit, 
within which Jarratt lived. On one occasion, "weak and 
hardly ably to sit on my horse," says Watters, "I at last came 
to the house of Mr. Jarratt, with whom I stayed a night, as I 
did every time I came round my circuit. His barn, well fitted 
up with seats and a pulpit, was one of our preaching places ; 
and I found him very friendly and attentive to me while I 
stayed in the parts." t 

A further illustration of the spirit of Jarratt and of the 
completeness of his identification with the Methodists in feel- 
ing and work is seen in a letter he wrote to Kankin, May 11, 
1776, a part of which was published in the "Narrative of the 
-Revival of Religion in Virginia." Jarratt says: "I believe 
three score in and near my parish have believed through 
grace since the Quarterly Meeting. Such a work I never 
saw. Sometimes twelve, sometimes fifteen, find the Lord at 
one class meeting. I am just returned from meeting two 
classes. Much of the power of God was in each. My dear 
partner is now happy in God her Saviour. I clap my hands 
exulting and praise God. Blessed be the Lord that ever he 
sent you and your brethren into this part of his vineyard." 

When Jarratt died Asbury commemorated his apostolic 
character and ministry in a funeral sermon. He thought of 
publishing the discourse, as an extant autograph letter of his 
shows ; but whether Asbury did or did not print the sermon, 
he left an outline of it in his Journal. He bore high testi- 
mony to Jarratt's talents, zeal, and abounding labor and use- 
fulness, and says : " There were very few parish churches 
within fifty miles of his own in which he had not preached, 
to which labors of love and zeal were added preaching on 
solitary plantations and meeting-houses. He was the first 
who received our despised preachers. When strangers and 
unfriended he took them to his house and had societies 

* Narrative of the Revival of Religion in "Virginia, p. 31. 
t Life of William Watters, p. 58. 



JARRATT'S SERVICES TO METHODISM 



383 



formed in his parish. Some of his people became travelling 
preachers among us. He was a man of genius, possessed a 
great deal of natural oratory, was an excellent reader and a 
good writer. I am convinced that there have been more souls 
convinced by his ministry than by that of any other man in 
Virginia. " * 

Jarratt's hold upon the confidence and love of the Metho- 
dist preachers was conspicuously shown at the Conference 
held in 1782 at Ellis's Meeting House in Virginia, which ac- 
knowledged " their obligations to the Eev. Mr. Jarratt for his 
kind and friendly services to the preachers and people from 
pur first entrance into Virginia, and more particularly for at- 
tending our Conference in Sussex in public and in private ; 
and advise the preachers in the South to consult him and to 
take his advice in the absence of Mr. Asbury." t Jesse Lee 
in his youth attended Jarratt's ministry. In his "History of 
the Methodists" he says : "Mr. Jarratt was one' of the most 
pious clergymen that I was acquainted with, and his attach- 
ment to the Methodists was very great, and never abated un- 
til the Methodists broke off from the Church of England in 
1784." 

Nathaniel Lee, the father of this celebrated Methodist 
preacher and historian of Methodism, lived about sixteen 
miles from Petersburg, where "he owned several hundred acres 
of land and enough servants to cultivate them." He and his 
family were nominally Episcopalians. Sapony Church, the 
principal sanctuary in Jarratt's parish, was about twelve miles 
from Mr. Lee's residence. Hearing Jarratt occasionally he 
became converted. Subsequently his wife and their son Jesse 
experienced the same spiritual renewal. Mr. Lee and his 
family, in hearing Robert Williams at every convenient op- 
portunity for about a year, became Methodists. Williams be- 
gan to form societies in their neighborhood in the spring of 
1774, and in the summer following-Nathaniel Lee and his wife 
and two of their sons, Peter and Jesse, joined the Methodist 
society. From that time the elder Lee's house was a Metho- 

* Asbury's Journal, Vol. Ill, pp. 21-17; Vol. L, p. 435. 

t Minutes of the Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



384 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

dist preacher's home, and a preaching place until his death, in 
1820. His son Jesse became one of the most commanding 
preachers and leaders of the new denomination and a chief 
instrument of its progress in the South and in the North. 

About the end of the summer of 1773, Williams returned 
to Norfolk and shortly afterward he and Watters sailed thence 
to Baltimore, where they spent the Sabbath, " preaching both 
in the town and at ' the Point ' to considerable congregations." 
Watters reached his home in Maryland apparently in Sep- 
tember, as he says he had been absent eleven months, and he 
began his journey to Virginia in October, 1772. Williams 
did not tarry long in Maryland, for on the eighth of Octo- 
ber, 1773, he was in Philadelphia, and for a short time was 
active in the ministry there and in New Jersey. A great 
work for Methodism was accomplished by him while he was 
in Virginia, in the early months of 1773, by so enlightening 
the mind of Mr. Jarratt respecting it, as to bring him into 
active and enthusiastic support of the new evangelical move- 
ment. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



METHODISM IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES DOWN TO THE FIEST CON- 
FERENCE. 

Asbuey and Wright were laboring in the region of the 
Hudson and the Delaware, while Boardman was in New Eng- 
land, and Pilmoor in Maryland, in the summer of 1772. 
Captain Webb must have sailed for England about the time 
that Boardman moved eastward and Pilmoor southward, for 
he appeared at the British Conference, which met at Leeds 
August 4th, and made an appeal to it for more preachers. 
Shadford says when the Captain " warmly exhorted preach- 
ers to go to America, I felt my spirit stirred within me to 
go." King and Williams both were in Maryland in the sum- 
mer of the same year, and King continued there in the fall 
and winter. 

Asbury's itinerancies led him to New York City about the 
first of August, 1772. For about four months he had been 
preaching in and about Philadelphia. Aside from his labors 
in that city his work was chiefly in New Jersey. He also 
was somewhat in Delaware. He visited Wilmington, New 
Castle, and also went to Bohemia Manor in eastern Maryland. 
He preached several times at Greenwich, Burlington, New 
Mills, now Pemberton, Trenton, and elsewhere in New Jer- 
sey. He now entered upon his work in New York, and 
preached there on the seventh of August, and several times 
very soon thereafter on Sundays and week-days. On one of 
these occasions he complains of finding " broken classes and 
a disordered society, so that my heart was sunk within me." 
This was after Wright had conducted the work there for 
about three months, in the absence of both Boardman and 
Pilmoor. Asbury met the leaders on the ninth of October 



386 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



and says " there were some sharp debates. Mr. L[upton?] 
told me I had already preached the people away, and inti- 
mated that the whole work would be destroyed by me." The 
next day he received a letter from Mr. Wesley, requiring " a 
strict attention to discipline," and placing him in charge of 
the American field as his assistant. Wesley at this time also 
enjoined that Mr. Williams " should not print any more 
books without his consent." Asbury also received a letter 
from Williams, informing him of the condition of the work in 
Maryland, and that it was appointed for Asbury " to winter 
there." Williams was then about to start with Watters to re- 
inforce Pilmoor in Virginia. While in New York at this time 
Asbury visited and preached at New Rochelle, Kingsbridge, 
Newtown, and Staten Island. 

On the nineteenth of October, 1772, Asbury started for 
Maryland. He now saw Princeton for the first time and met 
Boardman there. They " agreed in judgment about the af- 
fairs of the society, and were comforted together." As he 
advanced he preached twice each at Trenton and Burlington, 
in New Jersey. He also was in Chester, Pa., where he saw 
the hardened prisoners in the jail, and at Bohemia, where he 
met Solomon Hersey, " a man hearty in the cause." Early in 
November he crossed the Susquehanna, and was soon at 
Deer Creek, which at that time and for long afterward was a 
place of much interest and influence in Maryland Methodism. 
What he found there he thus describes: " The Lord hath 
done great things for these people, notwithstanding the weak- 
ness of the instruments and some little irregularities. Men 
who neither feared God nor regarded man — swearers, liars, 
cock-fighters, card-players, horse-racers, drunkards, etc., are 
now so changed as to become new men, and are filled with 
the praises of God." 

Asbury moved over about the same territory in Maryland 
that Pilmoor had already traversed, and also went into Kent 
County, which the movement had reached. There he en- 
countered opposition from a Church clergyman, who forbade 
him to preach; told him the people did wrong in hearing 
him, and charged him with making schism. At the house of 



PREACHERS STATIONED AT QUARTERLY CONFERENCE 387 



Joseph Presbury, in Gunpowder Neck, Asbury attended a 
quarterly meeting on the twenty-third of December. He 
here shows that Mr. Boardman had previously held a similar 
meeting in Maryland ; for he says that then Boardman "gave 
them their way," so that now he (Asbury) was " obliged to 
connive at some things." There being as yet no annual Con- 
ference, the business which was done in it subsequently was 
now transacted at the Quarterly Conference. There is no 
trace as yet of such a conference having been held east of 
the Susquehanna. At the Quarterly Conference, at which 
Asbury now presided, the preachers were stationed, and the 
appointments proved puzzling to Dr. Bangs, who in his "His- 
tory " gives them, with his own interrogatories concerning 
them, thus : " Brother S., by whome we suppose he means 
Strawbridge, and brother O. (who?) in Frederick County. 
Brother K. (King?) and brother Williams) and I. K. (who?) 
on the other side of the Bay." As Williams at that time was 
in Virginia, and continued there until the next summer, Bangs 
failed in his guess regarding him. Possibly the brother W. 
was Wright. Lednum, however, gives the names of the 
preachers whose initials only are given by Asbury, thus : 
Strawbridge, Owen, King, Webster, Rollins. The three lat- 
ter were converts in Maryland and had but just entered upon 
the work of the ministry in a local way. It was found at this 
Conference that the collections " were sufficient to pay the 
expenses." Asbury says "Brother S [trawbridge] received 
£8 quarterage ; brother K[ing] and myself £6 each." The 
question of the sacraments was considered. "J. K.," says 
Asbury, " was neuter, brother S. pleaded much for the ordi- 
nances, and so did the people, who appeared to be much biassed 
by him. I told them I would not agree to it at that time and 
insisted on abiding by our rules. Great love subsisted 
among us at this meeting and we parted in peace." 

Asbury went to Baltimore January 3, 1773, and this is the 
first that he mentions having preached in that town. At 
" the Point " he " had a large congregation at the house of 
Captain Patten," in which were " many of the principal peo- 
ple." At night he preached in " a house well filled with 



388 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



people" in the city. He was quickly away to the rural 
parts again, to which most of his toil was given. Noav and 
then, however, he was back in Baltimore. The progress of 
the work at this time in the country in Maryland is indicated 
in a letter Asbury received from Eichard Owen early in 
March, 1773, in which Owen said : " I know not what it 
will come to. Almost every person seems to be under relig- 
ious concern. There are about 22 already joined in society 
at Seneca. At Georgetown four have lately been enabled to 
rejoice in God and one at Rocky Creek." 

Abraham Whitworth, a young man from England, 
preached in southern New Jersey in the summer and autumn 
of 1772. His usefulness there was great and far-reaching in 
its results because his ministry brought Benjamin Abbott to 
Christ and into the service of the new movement. Before he 
heard Whitworth, Abbott was a rough, drinking, swearing, 
fighting, gambling companion of evil-doers. Frequently was 
he arraigned at the bar of justice for his deeds of violence. 
" If any affront or insult were offered him he seldom failed to 
deal out blows to the aggressor." Freeborn Garrettson, in a 
manuscript yet preserved, relates a tradition that Abbott 
once knocked down a judge who was to try him, saying : " I 
might as well be convicted for an old sheep as a lamb." 
The first time Abbott heard Whitworth he was not impressed, 
though " the preacher was much engaged and the people were 
crying all through the house." In his application, however, 
the preacher moved Abbott in a degree. The fact that this 
was eleven or twelve miles from Abbott's home renders it 
probable that it was at the church where Evans had preached 
at Greenwich. The next time Abbott heard him was in his 
own neighborhood, where Methodist preaching was then " a 
new thing." " He preached with power," says Abbott. " The 
word reached my heart in such a powerful manner that it 
shook every joint in my body. Tears flowed in abundance, 
and I cried aloud for mercy." 

His compunction was severe, so that he " felt a hell " in 
his breast, and started one night to commit suicide, but was 
arrested by what seemed to him " a voice saying, ' This tor- 



BENJAMIN ABBOTT S CONVERSION 



389 



ment is nothing to hell.' " He thought the devil was about to 
take him literally away. He heard the preacher again on 
Sunday, the eleventh of October, at the place where he first 
heard him, and at the dawn of the next day his anguish van- 
ished, and the lion became a lamb. " My heart felt as light 
as a bird," he says. Immediately he went forth to tell his 
new experience to his neighbors. At Elwell's Mill, two miles 
from his home, he says : " While I was telling them my ex- 
perience and exhorting them to flee from the wrath to come, 
some laughed, others cried, and some thought I had gone 
distracted. Before night a report was spread all through the 
neighborhood that I was raving mad." 

At this time Abbott lived in Pittsgrove Township, Salem 
County, New Jersey, and was employed by Benjamin Yan 
Meter, a farmer, solely on account of his physical strength, 
"for otherwise he was very objectionable, being intemperate, 
and when so very quarrelsome." * As a result of his conver- 
sion a class was formed at the house of his neighbor, John 
Murphy, of which Abbott was one of the first members and Mr. 
Murphy the leader. From this class came the Friendship 
Church, of which my godly father and mother were members, 
and in whose graveyard they sleep with several of their chil- 
dren and among some of the early Methodists of southern 
New Jersey. Friendship Church in Salem County was the 
first society formed south of Greenwich Church, and its ori- 
gin was no doubt due to the labors of Whitworth, which re- 
sulted in the conversion of Benjamin Abbott. 

This rough, hard man was tamed, subdued, saved, and be- 
came a flame of fire in South Jersey, when there were fewer 
than a score of Methodist preachers in America. Probably 
no man of his day in this country made a more profound and 
enduring impression as an awakening evangelist. His speech, 
if rude, was electrical. With a vivid imagination which, un- 
chastened, seemed at times almost grotesque, and much in- 
fluenced by his impressions, Abbott yet was a man of singu- 
lar and marvellous power. By his conversion the forces of 

* The Rev. Jefferson Lewis's Account of Methodism in Salem, N. J., in New 
York Christian Advocate, 1839. 



390 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

his nature were turned in a reverse channel, and ever after- 
ward flowed in a divine direction. He was a great lover of 
souls, tremendously in earnest, depended absolutely upon the 
Holy Spirit, and he achieved moral wonders among the 
people. He ploughed and seeded to Methodism much of 
southern New Jersey, supporting himself meanwhile by the 
labor of his hands. 

Abbott was the first convert in New Jersey who became 
a preacher. Jesse Lee knew him, and says that as a speaker 
Abbott was " a great blunderer and his language incorrect, 
more so than was common," and yet Lee says, as is said in 
the Minutes, that Abbott " was one of the wonders of 
America." His acquired mental equipment was small, but 
by the use of all his resources he became one of the most suc- 
cessful and celebrated Methodist evangelists in America, in 
the primitive times. And but few names in American Meth- 
odism in the past shine brighter and are known farther than 
that of Benjamin Abbott, who until the fortieth year of his 
life was remarkable for wickedness. 

Although Abbott travelled much and far as a preacher 
before 1789, he did not until that year formally enter upon 
the itinerancy. In this sphere his travels were extensive and 
his labors abundant. In New York, New Jersey, and Mary- 
land he was a burning and a shining light as an itinerant 
preacher. His strength in a few years failed, and he went 
home to New Jersey to die. His death occurred in Salem in 
that State on the fourteenth of August, 1796. The last words 
he uttered intelligently were : " Glory to God, I see heaven 
sweetly opened before me." At the age of 64 Benjamin Ab- 
bott ceased his unique and wonderfully successful career as a 
winner of souls, and he rests in the old Methodist graveyard 
in Salem, among those who were seals to his ministry. 

Abbott began preaching in 1774. Gatch entered New 
Jersey the middle of November, 1773, with John King. He 
preached there until the spring of 1774. While there he 
called on Abbott to close a meeting with prayer, which, 
Abbott says, was the first prayer he ever offered in public. 
Shortly after this he began his mighty ministry. 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 

pilmoor's return from the south to the north. 

In the middle of February, 1773, Mr. Pilmoor left Savan- 
nah for the North. The Rev. Mr. Zubly accompanied him 
as far as Purysburg, a village at which Mr. Wesley had been, 
of which he says : " Mr. Belinger sent a negro lad with me 
to Purysburg, or rather to the poor remains of it. O how 
hath God stretched over this place the lines of confusion and 
the stones of emptiness ! " Pilmoor preached the next day 
at Purysburg to a good congregation. " The people were 
much affected under the sermon," he says. " After preaching 
I was invited to dine with a Frenchman, who was one of the 
principal inhabitants, and expressed a very great desire that 
I would stay and be their parish minister; but parishes, 
however valuable as to earthly things, have no weight with 
me. My call is to run — to run to and fro." 

Pilmoor reached Charleston on the seventeenth of Feb- 
ruary, 1773. Two days afterward he sent word through the 
town that he would preach, and in the evening a fine con- 
gregation heard him. The next day he received a visit 
from a Christian young man who was a Methodist in Eng- 
land. He also received a message from the Rev. Mr. Percy, 
one of Lady Huntingdon's preachers, who had just arrived 
from England, and was very zealous. No doubt this was the 
Mr. Percy whom Mary Thorn says Mr. Hart directed to per- 
suade her to leave the Methodists. While Pilmoor tarried in 
Charleston he preached more than once in the Rev. Oliver 
Hart's church. 

Pilmoor's ministry was very effective in Charleston. On 
the third of March many persons spoke with him " who were 
blessed under the preaching." The first Sunday in March he 



392 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

preached three times in Charleston, and in the evening of the 
following day he delivered his farewell discourse from the 
text, " Finally, brethren, farewell," etc., to "a vast multitude 
of people." He remarks: "My heart was greatly engaged 
for the happiness of these dear people, who have always be- 
haved to me as if I had been an angel of God. I should like 
well to continue longer in this town, but I must hasten 
through the woods to Philadelphia and preach the gospel in 
the waste places of the wilderness." Leaving Charleston, 
finally, on the ninth of March, 1773, he was accompanied to 
the boat by many friends, and after a good passage was kindly 
received at a Mrs. Baskerdale's. 

Having an appointment to preach at a Presbyterian 
meeting-house he, with a son of his hostess, went thither 
the next day. It was Militia Day, and many gentlemen were 
assembled near the house of worship. The captain offered 
to wait until the sermon was preached, " and came with his 
whole company to hear the word of God." After preaching, 
Pilmoor dined with a " Mr. Westkit, a member of the Inde- 
pendent Church in Charleston, and was as happy as if they 
had been acquainted for years." In this connection he re- 
corded his opinion of the American people thus : " The 
religious people in America unite piety and civility so happily 
together that they are by far the most agreeable people I 
know of on earth." 

The following day, March 11, 1773, his good host went 
with Pilmoor to " Wappaton meeting-house, where a great 
number of genteel people assembled to hear the word." After 
retiring to the woods for secret prayer Pilmoor preached to 
them. The ensuing day, at a place called Winnian, he met 
a congregation " who received the word with gladness." As 
he surveyed the field he was moved to exclaim : "In 
these parts the fields are white already, and there might be a 
plentiful harvest of souls if they had but a faithful pastor." 
It was not until about twelve years after this that Bishop 
Asbury, in connection with Henry Willis and Jesse Lee, 
went to Charleston and started Methodism in that town. 
It does not appear that Pilmoor organized any societies in 



ADVENTURES BY LAND AND WATER 



393 



South Carolina or Georgia. At Georgetown "the school- 
master sent word through the town that there would be 
preaching in the court-house. A good many people as- 
sembled ' to hear Pilmoor,' who were greatly affected." 

He had a dangerous passage amidst high winds across the 
Black River. He reached the shore safely and drove about 
five miles, where, from an unwilling host, he secured a night's 
entertainment. "The man of the house," he writes, " was 
very unwilling to take me in, but at length he consented. He 
told me many things that he had met with among strangers, 
and was very rough and unpleasant. I told him he was at 
liberty to think what he pleased concerning me, as I was a 
stranger, but assured him I should fully satisfy him for his 
trouble before I left his house. After some time he said, ' I 
believe you are a man of God,' and from that time he was 
remarkably civil and kind; so we spent the evening in 
religious conversation." 

When he came to " the Bay," which he fails to name, but 
which no doubt was Winyaw Bay, he encountered " perils of 
waters." He ventured into the bay, but presently " was at a 
full stop. The horse would not move. The spring tide 
swelled very rapidly, the waves rolled against the sides of the 
horse, and over his back. In this situation," says Pilmoor, 
" I did not know what I must do. The sea was flowing in so 
violently that I must in a very short time have been swallowed 
up by the waves. In my distress I lifted up my heart unto 
God and cried to him for deliverance, and immediately it 
was impressed on my mind as distinctly as if I had heard a 
voice saying unto me, ' Jump down into the water ; go along 
by the side of the horse ; take hold of the reins, wade through 
the water and pull the horse after you.' The impression was 
so powerful that I plunged into the sea immediately, and 
soon found that the horse had got into a quicksand, as the 
water did not reach up to my breast. I kept close to the 
shaft, got on to his head, took hold of the reins, and pulling 
him forward he plunged with all his might to get out of the 
sand, and I drew him along and escaped safe to the shore. 
This was one of the most remarkable deliverances of my life. 



394 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



In all my travels in Europe and America I never was in such, 
distress before. Yet the Lord redeemed my life from de- 
struction and saved me in the trying hour." He soon found 
a welcome retreat in the home of a friendly stranger. "After 
I had travelled about a mile through the wood," he says, " I 
found a little cottage belonging to a French refugee, who had 
left all for the sake of his conscience, where I was glad to 
take up my abode for that night. I was thoroughly wet from 
head to foot and had nothing dry to put on, for all my linen, 
clothes, and books in the chaise had been under water a con- 
siderable time. The honest Frenchman was remarkably kind. 
He lent me a shirt, and his own clothes, to put on till mine 
could be dried. They made up a huge fire and hung all my 
clothes and linen around, and sat up most of the night to get 
them properly dried. Then next day when I had gotten my 
things a little in order I took leave of my kind friends and 
set forward." 

He now came to the Boundary House, which stood exactly 
upon the line which divided the two Carolinas. Here he put 
up for the night and found the accommodations remarkably 
good. " The next morning," says Pilmoor, " Mr. Merrion 
would not take anything of me, but sent a negro with two 
horses fifteen miles to help me along my journey toward Mr. 
Moors's. Here I met with a kind reception indeed. Mr. 
Moors is a lover of all good men and rejoices in the prosperity 
of Zion. The day following I found he had sent word to all 
his neighbors that he had a minister at his house and there 
would be a sermon about twelve o'clock. At the time ap- 
pointed a fine company assembled, to whom I preached 
Christ Jesus." 

The next day, March 23, 1773, he hastened to Brunswick. 
As soon as he arrived there he sent a person round the town 
to publish preaching at five o'clock, at which time he had a 
good congregation, "who all behaved as if they felt that God 
was there." The following day there was a large congrega- 
tion in the church, to whom Pilmoor preached with " light 
and liberty." Early in the afternoon he started for Wilming- 
ton, North Carolina, and soon encountered winds and waves. 



THUNDER AND TEMPEST ON LAND AND WATER 395 



" The wind rose high and blew right up the river, so it was 
impracticable to get over," he says. " This was the more 
distressing, as there was no house, and I was likely to be de- 
tained on the island all night. Presently the dreadful 
lightnings flashed all around me in a most terrible manner, 
the rolling thunder burst over my head, the wind blew tem- 
pestuously and brought a very high tide which flowed all 
around me. As I had no other shelter I put up the head of 
the chaise and expected I must stay there all night. I was 
very uneasy on account of the tide, as I did not know how 
high it might rise. When the wind and the thunder abated 
I started for the boat, which presently arrived and took me 
over to the town. I went directly to Mr. Walker's, where I 
met Mr. Sutherland, a gentleman who has frequently heard 
me preach in Philadelphia and seemed exceedingly glad to 
meet with me. This day has been trying indeed. I have 
been in perils by land and perils by water — the heavens 
bursting with thunders over my head and forked lightnings 
flying all around me, while I was detained on a desolate 
island. Yet the Lord has kept me. He has been my hiding 
place from the wind and my covert from the tempest." 

The next evening he preached in the court-house in Wil- 
mington to a large assembly, and the succeeding forenoon he 
delivered another sermon and then rode fifteen miles. On 
Sunday, March 28th, he preached at Beesley's Chapel to many 
people. While preaching several persons went to a pail that 
stood near the door to get water to drink, for which conduct 
he openly reproved them. On Monday he travelled above 
forty miles through the woods and came in the evening to 
White Oak, where he " rested among the followers of Christ." 
The next day he proceeded slowly to New Berne and preached 
there in the evening, and also twice the succeeding day. 
" People of fashion in this town," he remarks, " think it a 
privilege to hear the gospel." 

In going over the Albemarle Sound, on the third of 
April, "the wind was contrary, but as there was room enough 
to tack about I thought we might do very well. Two gentle- 
men came after us in a canoe intreating us to go back and 



396 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



preach in their parish churches on the Sunday, but my heart 
was set upon Edenton and therefore could not comply. We 
strove to get over, but the negroes, who had no mind to go 
forward, soon ran us aground, where we stayed till near sunset, 
but could not get off. I resolved to take a few things which 
I should want and venture over in the canoe, and about nine 
o'clock got to shore. Having been nearly seven hours on the 
water, I was exceedingly fatigued. My expenses for horses, 
ferriages, etc., this day amounted to one pound fifteen and 
two pence." 

On Sunday, April 4, 1773, he went to church at Edenton 
and heard a sermon on the Sufferings of Christ, which was 
delivered in " a cold, lifeless manner," and without much im- 
pression upon the people. In the afternoon Pilmoor 
preached with power in the court-house to a large congrega- 
tion, and again in the evening. " I found a longing desire 
for the salvation of the people," he says, " whom I en- 
treated to give themselves to the Lord. When I returned to 
the Inn several persons followed me, with whom I spent an 
hour most agreeably in conversing of the things of God and 
the heavenly world." 

The next day he travelled about forty miles, and the day 
succeeding, namely, April 6, 1773, he reached Norfolk. The 
people hailed his return with rejoicing. 

On Thursday, the 8th of April, he went to Portsmouth, 
" and preached to a great multitude of people on Our 
Saviour's Agony in the Garden, and the next day, being Good 
Eriday, on the Sufferings of Christ on Mt. Calvary." In the 
afternoon he " preached Christ Crucified in Norfolk " to a 
large and deeply serious congregation. The following day 
he met the society in Portsmouth, " and joined two new 
members and readmitted a penitent backslider." 

He preached in Norfolk on Sunday afternoon, April 11th, 
1773, and noted the contrast between his reception now and 
that which he received when he first went there. Then "I 
was but little regarded," he says; "now they treat me as if I 
were an angel of God." 

Eobert Williams, who the preceding month was at the 



PILMOOR AND WILLIAMS AGAIN IN NORFOLK 397 



Rev. Devereux Jarratt's and in the region contiguous, was 
now at Norfolk. During the four weeks in the spring of 
1773 that Pilmoor remained in and about that town he and 
Williams were together on several occasions. On the thir- 
teenth of April Pilmoor remarks that he "went over the 
water to hear Mr. Williams." The ensuing day he was taken 
into the country to a place he does not name, but at which 
he says "I found a fine congregation and preached with 
particular unction. Afterwards I met the society I had 
formed before I went to the South, took in a new member 
and was greatly comforted in speaking with them about ex- 
perimental religion." Thus it appears that in the period of 
about five months that he labored in Yirginia before leaving 
for Savannah he not only formed a society in Norfolk and 
one in Portsmouth, but also another in a contiguous rural 
place, which on his return from his lengthened Southern tour 
he found was still in existence. 

Pilmoor introduced the watch meeting in Norfolk on the 
27th of April, 1773. Of this occasion he says : " At eight in 
the evening our first watch night in Virginia began. Many 
people came flocking to see what we should do, which gave 
me a fine opportunity of showing them the necessity of watch- 
ing and prayer. Mr. Williams assisted me." Pilmoor also 
says that two days later, namely, April 29, 1773, Williams 
preached in Norfolk. 

The time of Pilmoor's final departure from the South is 
now at hand. In the four weeks spent at this time in Nor- 
folk and the vicinity he was busily employed. He visited 
from house to house, conversed with inquirers, preached the 
Gospel and added members to the societies. He also felt the 
presence of bodily infirmity. " My constitution," he writes, 
" has suffered exceedingly since my arrival in America, but 
I do not repent. If I die here it is quite as well as if I died 
in England, provided I die in the Lord ; and I have not a 
shadow of doubt." 

On Sunday, May 2, 1773, he gave two valedictory dis- 
courses. The morning sermon appears to have been 
preached at Portsmouth. " At ten o'clock," he says, " I had 



398 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

a prodigous multitude to hear my farewell sermon on the 
Apostolical benediction — ' The grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy 
Ghost be with you all.' The people were exceedingly af- 
fected and we parted in hope of meeting in glory. At night 
the congregation at Norfolk was large and remarkably seri- 
ous while I delivered my last sermon to them. I felt as if I 
could spend my very life in striving for their happiness and 
salvation. Many of them wept much at the thought of part- 
ing, especially as it is probable they will see my face no 
more." He went to Colonel Yeal's and thence to Mr. 
Hughes's. A large number of his friends had crossed the 
water and desired to hear him again. He preached in the 
open air and then returned to the house and prayed with 
them once more. He then met a society and closed the 
day " very weary, but very happy." His last leave-taking with 
his Virginia friends occurred on the third of May, 1773. The 
affecting occasion he shall describe : "I had a great number 
of persons take leave of me at Mr. Taylor's, where we joined in 
solemn prayer. I left them with an heart overwhelmed with 
sorrow. I was obliged to be resolute and tear myself away 
from a people who are exceedingly dear to me, being the 
fruits of my labors in this place and seals of my ministry." 

He now travelled northward. We trace his progress 
briefly. At Suffolk he preached to a fine congregation out 
of doors. With William Watters, who was yet in Virginia, he 
went to Hogg's Island. Then he crossed James River and 
rode to Williamsburg ; travelled through a fine country to 
New Castle, a small town on a branch of York River. There 
he hired a boy to go round and call the people together, and 
at one o'clock preached to a fine congregation. At Fredericks- 
burg he obtained the court-house for preaching, and again 
hired a boy to publish it, and at five o'clock the house of 
justice was nearly filled by the principal inhabitants, and 
" the word was clothed with power." At Dumfrees, on the 
Potomac, he preached at an inn, and thence went to Alexan- 
dria, where he was very sick, but preached in the court- 
house, which was almost full, on Monday, May 17, 1773. 



PILMOOR ROBBED 



399 



At Alexandria he was peculiarly tried. Money that had 
been intrusted to him was stolen from his trunk. Occasion 
was taken of the afflicting circumstance to asperse the 
preacher. He describes the affair thus: "When I returned 
to my room at the Inn to prepare to- set forward on my jour- 
ney, I found my trunk broken open, and forty pounds, Penn- 
sylvania currency, taken away. This was a trial indeed, as 
the money belonged to a gentleman who brought it to me in 
Norfolk to pay to his correspondent in Burlington, New 
Jersey. I thought it best to stir about it immediately, went 
to a magistrate and got a search warrant to examine the 
house. We searched every place in the house where we had 
the least suspicion, but all to no purpose. I then spoke 
with the chamber-maid — a girl from Ireland — and as I was 
fully persuaded she was the thief, endeavored to prevail with 
her to confess, but she in the most solemn manner denied it. 
Notwithstanding, it was generally believed she was guilty, 
and I was advised to take her before a magistrate and com- 
mit her to jail. When this was done, she denied it in such 
an awful manner, that I began to be in doubt whether she 
might not be innocent, and had several negroes examined, 
and searched the kitchen, stable, etc., but nothing could be 
found. 

" Hitherto I had a hope the money would be found, but 
everything looked so dark, I now began to be in doubt. 
Some gentlemen in the town have given it out that I have 
not been robbed at all, but have invented this affecting tale 
in order to get money from the inhabitants. This cut me to 
the very heart, as I was a stranger in the place and professed 
to be a preacher of the gospel. But I was enabled to spread 
all my troubles before the Lord, and he gave me a hope that 
notwithstanding the darkness of the prospect, he would 
undertake for me. As I was walking in the garden a poor 
young man came to me and presently withdrew. Seeing no 
appearance of anything hidden in the garden, I went into 
the house, where I had not been long before he came running 
to me almost out of breath and cried, ' O Mr. Pilmoor, I have 
found your money.' We found eight pounds wanting, but I 



400 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



was glad I had recover ed so much, especially as the gentle- 
men will now be convinced of their slanderous reports and 
will perhaps think more favorably of me in future. At any 
rate religion will not suffer." After he returned to Philadel- 
phia he received a remittance of a portion of the remainder 
of the stolen monej^, and learned that the Irish chamber-maid 
whom he had suspicioned was the thief. 

Leaving Alexandria May 18, 1773, Pilmoor went to 
Georgetown, and called on Mr. James Wood, whose wife was 
a convert of his ministry and belonged to St. George's, Phila- 
delphia. The following day they sent an invitation to their 
neighbors to hear their former pastor. He preached to a 
congregation of the poor at eleven o'clock. After preaching 
he was quite sick. Becoming better he says " I resolved not 
to lose a moment, but begged them to call the people together 
again, which they did, and I preached to many more hearers 
than we had in the forenoon. The next morning I set off 
very early and went about eight miles to Bladensburg." 

He was now approaching Baltimore. So long unknown 
as the founder of Methodism in that important American city, 
he must ever hereafter bear that distinction. The vine which 
he there planted in the summer of 1772 lived and was fruit- 
ful while he was absent in the South. It has been one of 
the most luxuriant of all that the sons of Wesley have planted 
in America. Pilmoor now returns to give it further nurture. 

From Bladensburg to Baltimore the distance was forty-two 
miles of very bad road, " so that I was heartily tired," he 
says, " when I came to my friend, Mr. George Dagan's, where 
I met with the kindest reception." The next day he went 
among his friends in Baltimore, who rejoiced to see him 
again. In the evening of May 21 he took his " old stand on 
the hill," and preached the gospel "to a listening multitude ; 
the evening was calm and remarkably pleasant and the people 
all deeply attentive." 

The next day he was in the Baltimore jail, where the 
tears of the prisoners told of the effect of the Gospel upon 
their hearts. The same evening he preached again out of 
doors. 



PILMOOR'S LAST SUNDAY IN BALTIMORE 401 



He preached in the Dutch Church on Sunday, May 23, at 
seven in the morning and at ten in the English Presbyterian 
meeting. They begged him to preach again in the afternoon, 
which he did, and at night had a refreshing season with the 
Methodist society at Mr. Dagan's. After the meeting he met 
a young man who was one of his hearers in Wales, who brought 
him good news from a far country. On Monday he went a 
distance of about seven miles, where he " found a large con- 
gregation waiting and began immediately to preach Christ." 
The following day he went to John Watters's, at or near Deer 
Creek. The next day many of the neighbors assembled, to 
whom he preached. 

Pilmoor anticipated much pleasure in visiting his dear 
friend, Josias Dallam, but on going to his house he found 
that he and Mrs. Dallam were in Philadelphia. He remained 
all night at their home and had a happy visit with the rest of 
the family. The next day he preached at Bushtown. He 
then returned to Josias Dallam's, and at the desire of the ser- 
vants preached in the evening to a fine congregation. The 
following day, May 28, 1773, he went to Richard Dallam's, 
where he preached at about noon. In the afternoon he heard 
that Mr. Josias Dallam had returned to his home. " I has- 
tened away to see him," he says, " and spent the evening in 
the utmost harmony. Just before we went to rest Mr. Board- 
man came in. As I had not seen him in more than a year 
my heart rejoiced exceedingly at our meeting, and we found 
our spirits most closely united in the fellowship of the gospel 
and the communion of saints." 

Boardman had been travelling widely since he and Pil- 
moor last met. He was in Maryland the previous year, as 
we learn from Asbury, and in that year he also was in New 
England. He had made somewhere a tour, an account of 
which he gave in a letter to Mary Thorn. The letter is dated 
simply May 25th, and probably was written just before he 
and Pilmoor met at the home of Mr. Dallam at Deer Creek, on 
the above occasion. It was written at Mr. Steadham's, and a 
Mr. Steadham was then a leading Methodist in "Wilmington, 
Delaware. In this epistle Boardman said: " I have been 



402 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



through my circuit. The rides are long, the roads bad, the 
living very poor. But what more than compensates for these 
difficulties is a prospect of advancing the Kedeemer's kingdom, 
in bringing sinners to the knowledge of the truth as it is in 
Jesus. In the greater part of this round the people were 
wicked and ignorant to a lamentable degree — destitute of the 
fear and regardless of the worship of God. But such a refor- 
mation is wrought among them as shows the amazing love 
and almighty power of God. It would do you good to hear 
them, when the business of the day is done in the fields, 
wrestling in prayer with God, or singing his praise with joy- 
ful lips. 

" I trust you find your own soul alive to God, growing in 
grace, advancing in knowledge of Christ's love, the devil's 
malice, your own great nothingness. Expect much; you can- 
not be disappointed. Do what little you can to bring much 
glory to God. Forsake yourself and sometimes your beloved 
retirement to stir up yourself and others to go forward. 
Charge your heart neither to murmur nor repine, but to trust 
without wavering, to believe without doubting, to be active 
without fainting. Very soon you shall praise and adore 
without ceasing." 

Pilmoor rode forward on the 29th of May, to Mr. Giles's, at 
Bock Bun, where he met with and preached to many friends. 
On Sunday morning he preached again to a large congrega- 
tion. Accompanied by several friends he went " to Mr. 
Dallam's, at Deer Creek, which is the first place I preached 
in Maryland," he says, " and found a vast multitude of people 
gathered from all parts. As I was obliged to exert myself, 
and the day being very hot, it fatigued me so much that I 
was almost exhausted." 

Pilmoor, on the 31st of May, hastened forward to Philadel- 
phia. With difficult travelling he reached Christeen Bridge, 
where he preached to " a vast congregation." June first he 
preached at New Castle, Delaware. In the evening he 
preached at Wilmington to a large congregation. The next 
day at eleven he preached at Chester, and thence went to 
Kingcess, where he was met by a number of Philadelphians. 



PILMOOR BACK IN PHILADELPHIA 



403 



At Philadelphia, he says, " I was received by my honorable 
friend, Mr. John Wallace, as if I had been an angel of God." 
He left Philadelphia for the South May 27, 1772, and re- 
turned to it June 2, 1773. 

Concerning this tour he now in Philadelphia indulged 
reminiscent thoughts. " It is above a year," he writes, " since 
I left this city. I set out with a consciousness of duty, and 
was determined to obey what to me was a call from above. 
I was totally unacquainted with the people, the road, and 
everything else. I only knew that there were multitudes of 
souls scattered through a vast extent of country, and was will- 
ing to encounter any difficulty and undergo the greatest 
hardships so I might win them to Christ. My plan was to 
follow the leadings of Providence, and go wherever the ' tu- 
telary cloud' should direct. With this view, I turned my 
face to the South, and went forward above a thousand miles 
through the provinces, visiting most of the towns between 
Philadelphia and Savannah in Georgia, where I preached the 
gospel of Christ. At Savannah I had several invitations to 
go forward towards Florida, but my mind was so strongly 
drawn towards the people where I had already been, who en- 
treated me to turn my face towards the North and visit them 
again, that I resolved to comply with their request, and vent- 
ured through the country again. I found to my great satis- 
faction that I had not labored in vain. I have been in many 
dangers by land and by water. My difficulties in passing 
through so many provinces without a guide have been very 
considerable and often discouraging. I can say with the ut- 
most confidence, I have done it with all sincerity and up- 
rightness of heart, and blessed be God, I have not labored in 
vain. His presence was with me, his word ran, and was 
glorified, and sinners were savingly converted to God." 
27 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 



THE ARRIVAL OF RANKIN AND SHADFORD AND THEIR FIRST 
LABORS IN AMERICA. 

Thomas Kankin went up to the Conference which opened 
at Leeds on the fourth of August, 1772, and says : " Here I 
met with Mr. Webb, who had lately arrived from America." 
George Shadford was also there and writes : "I went to the 
Leeds Conference, where I first saw Captain Webb. When 
he warmly exhorted preachers to go to America, I felt my 
heart stirred within me to go, more especially when I under- 
stood that many hundreds of precious souls were perishing 
through lack of knowledge, scattered up and down in various 
parts of the woods and had none to warn them of their 
danger." 

Both Eankin and Shadford at this Conference were des- 
ignated for America. " Mr. Eankin and I," says Shadford, 
" offered ourselves to go the spring following, when I received 
a letter from Mr. Wesley informing me that I was to embark 
with Captain Webb at Bristol." Thus read the letter: 
" Dear George : — The time is arrived for you to embark for 
America. You must go down to Bristol, where you will meet 
with Thomas Eankin, Captain Webb and his wife. I let you 
loose, George, on the great continent of America. Publish 
your message in the open face of the sun and do all the good 
you can. I am, dear George, yours affectionately, John 
Wesley." 

Wesley was not content with the administration of the 
American section of his world-parish. What all the reasons 
for his dissatisfaction were probably cannot now be ascer- 
tained. Eankin says : " Mr. Wesley had been dissatisfied 
with the conduct of those who superintended the rising work 



WHOM DID RANKIN SUPERSEDE? 



405 



there, and while I was in London he had frequently men- 
tioned this to me. I had made it a matter of much prayer, 
and it appeared to me that the way was open for me to go. 
When the work in America came before the Conference Mr. 
Wesley determined to appoint me superintendent of the 
whole."" Rankin's appointment then was settled early in 
August, 1772. Boardman at that time was in charge of the 
American field. Therefore the assertions by Dr. Stevens, 
that " Asbury had probably asked to be relieved by such a 
successor," and that " difficulties had arisen under the admin- 
istration of Asbury," are clearly erroneous, t Asbury had not 
then superseded Boardman in the American superintendency. 
Not until more than two months after Rankin's designation 
as Wesley's superintendent in America did Asbury receive 
his commission to that office ; for on the tenth of October, 
1772, the latter in his Journal says : " I received a letter from 
Mr. Wesley in which he appointed me to act as assistant." It is 
apparent, then, that whatever difficulties may have arisen, they 
did not occur under Asbury's administration as " assistant " 
prior to Rankin's appointment; nor could he have "asked to 
be relieved by such a successor," for the reason that up to 
that time he had not been promoted to the superintendency. 
Wesley intrusted him with the responsibility thereof from 
October, 1772, until the arrival of his already designated suc- 
cessor, which was on the third day of the following June. We 
have seen that after Asbury came hither the societies in 
Philadelphia and New York were disturbed by his criticisms 
and apparent exercise of power, but it appears he was not at 
that time chief in authority. On the contrary, it is plain from 
Asbury's statements that Boardman was in charge until 
October, 1772. 

We have seen in former pages evidence of strained rela- 
tions between Wesley and his first two missionaries to this 
country. We are now to see a fuller account thereof by Pil- 
moor. Just after his return from the South, and the very 
next day after the arrival of Rankin and Shadford at Phila- 

* Rankin in Lives of Early Methodist Preachers, Vol. V. , pp. 183-4. London, 
t See Stevens's History of the M. E. Church, Vol. I., p. 142. 



406 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



delphia, Pilmoor in that city wrote as follows : " A day of 
sharp tribulation. Since I came to America I have had in- 
numerable trials, and many of them from persons I least of 
all expected. For more than two years Mr. Wesley, who 
should have been a compassionate father to us, has treated 
us in a manner not to be mentioned. During that time we 
have not had so much as a single letter we could read to the 
people. Nothing but jealous reflections, unkind suspicions, 
and sharp reproofs came from under his hand, which greatly 
discouraged us in the work, and would certainly have driven 
us away if we had not regarded the work of the Lord above 
everything. For a long time I was able to bear it without 
hurting my mind. But at length the trials came on so fast 
that I began to reason with the enemy and my own evil 
heart ; then the usage I met with seized on my spirit and 
threw me into such distress that it presently destroyed my 
health and brought such weakness upon my whole nervous 
system that I was on the very borders of melancholy and in 
the utmost danger of losing my senses. When I reflected on 
the duties I had gone through, the hardships I had suffered, 
the rectitude of heart with which I had acted, and the glorious 
success that had attended my labors, I was greatly amazed 
that Mr. Wesley should treat me as if I had been the foulest 
offender and an enemy to God and mankind. O, my God, I 
cry to thee." 

No doubt letters containing criticisms of the preachers 
reached Wesley from this side of the Atlantic. That he was 
too ready to accept as just the reflections of fault-finders and 
the animadversions of those whose views of the work differed 
from those honestly entertained by Boardman and Pilmoor 
may be true. That they labored in this country with general 
and marked acceptability to the societies, and with devotion, 
diligence, and success, is beyond question. They toiled here 
also when other Wesleyan preachers were unwilling to venture 
upon this remote field. An undated letter from Pilmoor to a 
friend in England, who seems to have been a preacher, and 
which was written in New York before Asbury came hither, 
breathes the heroic spirit and illustrates the toils and sacri- 



PILMOOR WRITES TO ENGLAND 



407 



fices of the missionaries here. In that letter Pilmoor says : 
" I have been waiting with eager expectation for some of the 
brethren to come over to our Macedonia and help us. But, 
ah me ! there are so many things to give up before one can 
cross the Atlantic that it seems too much even for a Metho- 
dist preacher. I find by Mr. Wesley's letter that none were 
willing to come, so that it is very uncertain whether ever we 
shall have the opportunity of returning to Old England or 
not. But blessed be God, we know what was our intention 
in leaving all that was dear to us in order to visit those dear, 
dear Americans ; and as we came in singleness of heart, the 
Lord has greatly blessed us, both in New York and Philadel- 
phia. Our congregations are very large and very serious ; 
trifling seems to have no place at present, for sinners are en- 
gaged about the vast concerns of the invisible world ; even 
the poor negroes are turning to God, and seeking to wash 
their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
We have about twenty black women who meet in one class, 
and I think upon the whole they are as happy as any class. 
Many people of superior rank come to hear the word and 
are very friendly. The chief difficulty is the want of ordina- 
tion, and I believe we shall be obliged to procure it in some 
form or other. Perhaps you will say I speak too much in 
favor of the Americans, but I do assure you the half is not 
yet told you, and I freely wish you would come and prove the 
truth of what I say. If you will but come I assure you that 
you will not want anything that is good. The people here 
are very kind, and take pleasure in providing for the Meth- 
odist preacher." * 

That such men, so abundant in labor, should thus have 
been subjected to irritating criticism from Mr. Wesley seems 
unaccountable. They went forth weeping, and returned with 
many sheaves. Pilmoor, however, declares that "Mr. Board- 
man and I had been shamefully misrepresented to Mr. Wes- 
ley." Kankin now was put in charge of the Wesley an cause 

* This letter is given by Lockwood in his Western Pioneers. He asserts that 
the original manuscript has no address, but has as a superscription u To Miss Bosan- 
quet." Lockwood thinks that it was probably addressed to Christopher Hopper. 



408 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



in America, and entered upon his work as ruler under Wesley 
June 4, 1773. Soon after his arrival at Philadelphia he indi- 
cated in his Journal one of the reasons why Boardman and 
Pilmoor were censured. "From what I see and hear," he 
writes, "and so far as I can judge, if my brethren who first 
came over had been more attentive to our discipline there 
would have been a more glorious work by this time in many 
places. Their love-feasts and meetings of society were laid 
open to all their particular friends, so that their number did 
not increase, and the minds of our best friends were thereby 
hurt." * 

Thomas Eankin was born at Dunbar, in the town of East 
Lothian, Scotland. In his youth he learned music and dan- 
cing, which he found affected unfavorably his occasional as- 
pirations toward a spiritual life. He was benefited by the 
preaching of the Eev. Mr. Lindsay, of North Leith. At 
Edinburgh he also heard excellent preaching. At length he 
partook of the sacrament of the supper, and found a happi- 
ness he had never known before. Then he heard Whitefield, 
whose ministry gave him clearer light, and led him into a 
fuller and more definite religious experience, so that he de- 
clares "I had no more doubt of my interest in the Lord 
Jesus Christ than I had of my existence. I could declare 
that the Son of Man had still power to forgive sins, and that 
he had pardoned my sins, even mine." 

He came to America on business after his conversion, and 
spent several months' in Charleston, where he found the peo- 
ple " appeared to be a dissipated and thoughtless generation." 
While there he chiefly attended a Baptist chapel, whose pas- 
tor was " the only minister he heard who seemed to speak 
home to the consciences of his hearers." The churches, 
however, were observed by Rankin to be " pretty well filled, 
and the people seemed to hear with attention." He found 
that he was "not at home and did not enjoy that depth of 
communion with God, either in public or private, that he 
experienced in Edinburgh." He made a stormy voyage back 
to Britain. 

*Life of Rankin, Jackson's Lives, Vol. V., p. 191. 



RANKIN AND SHADFORD SAIL FOR AMERICA 409 



Rankin again repeatedly heard Whitefield, whose sermons 
proved a great blessing to him. He soon recovered all that 
peace and joy he had felt before he went to America. After 
a time he began to preach and was sent by Wesley to a cir- 
cuit. At the Conference of 1762 he was appointed to Shef- 
field circuit, next to the Devonshire circuit, and in 1764, to 
Cornwall. He continued in the English Wesleyan itinerancy, 
going from circuit to circuit until the Conference of 1772, 
when he was designated by Wesley for the transatlantic field. 
As he was not to sail until the next spring it was determined 
that until then he should labor in York Circuit. There he 
remained until about the end of March, 1773. 

In coming to America he parted from one whom he deeply 
loved and who subsequently became his wife. But his zeal 
for the work swallowed up all other concerns. He rode to 
Bmninghain to see and receive instructions from Wesley. He 
had an interview with him which was pleasing, instructive, 
and affecting, and which he hoped never to forget. On Good 
Friday, April 9, 1773, he with Captain and Mrs. Webb, 
George Shadford, and Joseph Tearby sailed from Bristol on 
the ship "Sally," commanded by Captain Young, for Phila- 
delphia. 

George Shadford was born at Scotter, Lincolnshire, Eng- 
land, January 19, 1739. He had early religious impressions, 
which, however, were dissipated by his natural sportiveness 
and his indulgence in frolicsome pastimes, unsuitable reading 
and company. He joined the militia, and while his company 
lay in quarters at Gainsborough he heard a Methodist 
preacher and "received more light from that single sermon 
than all that he ever heard in his life before." He went, every 
Sunday that there was preaching, to the same place. His 
seriousness provoked ridicule from his companions, and he 
fell into sin " as bad or worse than ever." Not long after- 
ward he again came under strong conviction. Sometimes 
deeply concerned, and at other times gay and frivolous, he 
came to the age of twenty-three, when, on the first Sunday in 
May, 1762, he twice heard a Methodist preacher. Towards 
the end of the second of those sermons he trembled, shook, 



410 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



wept. He cried out, " God be merciful to me, a sinner." At 
once he believed and in an instant he was filled with divine 
love. A fortnight after he united with the Methodist Society 
and became an ardent, active, happy worker in the cause. He 
soon began to preach. In 1768 Mr. Wesley called him into 
the itinerancy and appointed him to West Cornwall ; the next 
year he was sent to Kent and the two succeeding years he 
was at Norwich. " After a comfortable passage of eight 
weeks he arrived safe in Philadelphia," and with his fellow- 
voyagers, Rankin, Webb, and Yearby, was "kindly received 
by a hospitable and loving people." 

Pilmoor returned to Philadelphia from his Southern 
itinerary on the second of Jane, 1773, just in time to welcome 
Wesley's third ministerial deputation, for on the next day 
after his return Rankin, Shaclford, and Webb arrived in that 
city. Their arrival was an occasion for joy to the American 
Methodists. Under date of June 3 Pilmoor writes : " Cap- 
tain Webb, with his lady, with two preachers, Messrs. Rankin 
and Shadford, arrived from England. Our hearts were greatly 
rejoiced at the sight of more laborers." Asbury, too, was then 
in Philadelphia. His Journal is silent concerning Pilmoor's 
return, but on June 3 he noted the arrival of Webb and three 
English preachers and the " great comfort " he received- from 
this ministerial reinforcement. After stating that Mr. Rankin 
preached a good sermon, presumably the day that he arrived, 
Asbury remarks : " He will not be admired as a preacher, 
but as a disciplinarian he will fill his place." 

It was not on the day of his arrival, however, that Rankin 
preached, as Asbury's statement under that date would lead 
us to presume, and as Dr. Stevens mistakenly asserts, but the 
evening of the next day, as Rankin himself affirms. After 
preaching he " met the leaders of classes and bands." The 
following evening " Mr. Shadford," says Rankin, " gave a 
warm exhortation." That exhortation Pilmoor describes. 
" In the evening," he says, " Mr. Shadford gave an exhortation 
which he called True Old Methodism, and seemed to intimate 
the people had wanted it till now." 

Having reached the American shore, Rankin sought help 



RANKIN' S FIRST SERMON IN AMERICA 411 

from on high. "As I am now by the providence of God 
called to labor for a season on this continent," he exclaims, 
" do thou O Holy One of Israel stand by thy weak and igno- 
rant servant. Show thyself glorious in power and in Divine 
Majesty. Let thine arm be made bare and stretched out to 
save, so that wonders and signs may be done in the name of 
the holy child Jesus." 

The first Sunday after their arrival Rankin preached in 
the morning in Philadelphia and Pilmoor at night. Three 
days subsequently Pilmoor went with Mr. Wallace to a place 
in New Jersey called Newtown, where he "preached to a 
small congregation, met a little society, and returned to the 
city." On Friday, the eleventh of June, Rankin, according to 
Pilmoor, left Philadelphia for New York. The same day he 
joined Asbury at Trenton, and the latter says : " After dinner 
and prayer we set off together for Princeton. On Saturday 
we reached New York. Our friends there having previous 
notice of our coming, kindly met us on the dock where we 
landed." That day Pilmoor met the children in Philadelphia. 
Rankin does not say where he was on the next day — Sunday, 
June 13th — but his Journal implies, by the lack of any state- 
ment to the contrary, that he was yet in Philadelphia. He 
was not there, however, but in New York. Asbury preached 
in John Street in the morning from the second and fourth of 
Ruth. " During- the sermon," says Rankin, " I was led to 
reflect on the motives which induced me to leave my native 
land and Christian friends and brethren and cross the Atlan- 
tic Ocean to a land and people unknown. I could appeal to 
God with the utmost sincerity of heart that I had only one 
thing in view, his glory and the salvation of souls. In a 
moment the cloud broke, and the power of God rested upon 
my soul, and every gloom fled away as morning shades before 
the rising sun. I then had faith to believe that I should see 
his glory." 

At the hour of six in the afternoon Rankin opened his 
ministry in New York with a sermon, and then had a memor- 
able season with the society. "The Lord was in the midst," 
he says, " as a flame among dry stubble. Great was our re- 



412 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

joicing in the God of our salvation. This has indeed been a 
day of the Son of Man." Of this occasion, Asbury, who was 
present, writes : " Mr. Rankin dispensed the word of truth 
with power. It reached the hearts of many." Captain Webb 
was also in New York that day, and in the afternoon he and 
Rankin and Asbury went to St. Paul's Church on Broadway 
and received the holy communion. 

The next day, June 14th, Asbury preached at five in the 
morning and Rankin in the evening. " The Lord was in 
the word," says Rankin. " I spoke my mind freely and 
fully to the society, and I trust not in vain. One thing 
struck me a good deal this day. I was really surprised at 
the extravagance of dress I beheld, and in particular among 
the women." 

Pilmoor preached twice in Philadelphia the same Sunday 
that Rankin and Asbury preached in New York. In the 
morning " the congregation was pretty large " in St. George's, 
and in the evening it was " vast." Pilmoor, in addition to 
preaching on both occasions, met the society and concluded 
the day with prayer for a revival of the work which he de- 
clares " at present is exceedingly dead." The next day he 
visited " the people from house to house," and in the evening 
he preached to a very large congregation with " more liberty 
and happiness," he says, "than I have felt since my return 
from the South." 

Rankin soon discovered that a good work of grace was in 
progress in New York. " I had an opportunity of conversing 
with many of the members of the society in private," he 
says, "and had reason to bless God that I found several 
deeply awakened to a sense of inbred sin, and earnestly 
seeking deliverance from the last remains thereof. Others, 
who had been resting in good desires, were cut to the heart, 
and cried out with tears, 'What shall I do to be saved?' 
Some also I found who were newly awakened and desired to 
be admitted into the society." Asbury, in returning to New 
York from a week in the country the latter part of June, 
notes the special satisfaction he found " in the revival of re- 
ligion which has lately taken place in this city." He also 



SHADFORD'S WORK AT TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 413 

found that Rankin " had been well employed in settling mat- 
ters pertaining to the Society." 

Captain Webb started for Albany and Asbury for New 
Rochelle on the sixteenth of June, while Rankin seems to 
have continued in New York. In the meantime Pilmoor 
was in Philadelphia, where he was taken ill at the Inter- 
cession on Friday, June 18, but went to church again and at- 
tempted to speak in the evening. When he was done his 
weakness was such that he could scarcely get home. He be- 
came so sick that there was but little hope of his recovery. 
When he became convalescent he went to Mr. Supplee's, at 
Methacton, where for some days he remained in the enjoy- 
ment of familiar scenes and friends and of country air. 
While he was there two ladies of Philadelphia, Mrs. Shippen 
and Mrs. Hinderson, went twenty miles to visit him. He 
was also gratified in receiving still another visitor there. 
" My dearest friend," he says, " Mr. John Wallace, came from 
the city to see me. His company and conversation greatly 
cheered and comforted my mind." 

Shadford went to Trenton a few days after his arrival 
and labored a month in New Jersey, in which time he added 
thirty-five persons to the society. He was an awakening 
evangelist and greatly successful in bringing sinners to re- 
pentance. 

Asbury left New York for Staten Island on the 26th of 
June, and remained there, preaching at several places, until 
July. He and Rankin were together in John Street on the 
first Sunday of that month. The people in good numbers at- 
tended the preaching. "Many were touched and some 
greatly comforted " at the love-feast which concluded the 
day. " The people spoke with life and liberty, and in par- 
ticular some of the blacks." Rankin that day preached at 
seven in the morning. " Blessed be God," he writes, " I 
found freedom and tenderness to apply the word in a par- 
ticular manner to those who were groaning for pardon of sin 
and for purity of heart. Brother Asbury preached in the 
evening a home Methodist sermon, and the Lord crowned it 
with a divine blessing." Three days later Asbury preached 



414 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



to a number of soldiers and others behind the barracks. He 
complains that he " had been grieved by the false and de- 
ceitful doings of some particular persons." In an interview 
which he had two days later with Mr. L. [Lupton], the latter, 
he writes, "was pleased to say 'he did not know but the 
church-door would be shut against me,' and that ' some per- 
sons would not suffer matters to go on so.' " It is thus appar- 
ent that only a few days before the first Conference all was 
not tranquil in New York Methodism. The disturbances ap- 
parently retarded the progress of the cause in that city, as the 
reports of the number of members at that period would indi- 
cate. It is also apparent that if persons wrote to Mr. Wesley 
after the manner that Mr. Lupton spoke to Asbury of the 
state of things in New York, he would be concerned for 
his charge in America. Some three days after this signifi- 
cant interview with Lupton, Asbury " set off towards Phila- 
delphia," where he was to sit in the first American Methodist 
Conference. 



CHAPTEB XXV. 



THE FIRST METHODIST CONFERENCE IN AMERICA. 

From the year 1744 Mr. Wesley assembled his preachers 
annually in conference. In imitation of the Mother Meth- 
odism the American preachers gathered in a like capacity 
July 14, 1773. In only seven years the movement begun by 
Barbara Heck had swept from the Hudson to beyond the 
Chesapeake, and northward into Boston, and now in devel- 
oping an Annual Conference reached a higher stage in its 
progress. The church in Philadelphia which under Joseph 
Pilmoor's efficient ministry was purchased by the Methodists 
in 1769, opened its portals to welcome this significant and 
historic convocation that marked a new epoch in Methodism, 
for by it the societies in America were united into a connec- 
tion as real as the connection in England. 

The Conference was appointed to convene on Tuesday, 
July 13, 1773, but it did not open until the next day. It met 
while the first controversy which the new movement encoun- 
tered was causing irritation. This controversy related to the 
conduct of the work, and might appropriately be called the 
disciplinary controversy. Asbury, no doubt, and Pilmoor 
and Boardman likewise, anticipated the assembling of the 
Conference with deep interest, if not indeed with profound 
solicitude, as the matters about which there was disagreement 
would be considered by it. Asbury failed to reach Philadel- 
phia until Thursday, July 15, 1773, which was the second day 
of the session. He left New York four days previously, and 
should have arrived at Philadelphia at least on Tuesday, on 
which day Pilmoor says : " We had appointed to meet in 
Conference in Philadelphia and several of us met at our 
church at six in the morning. As two of the preachers had 



416 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



not arrived we agreed to adjourn until the next day. At seven 
in the evening Mr. Boardman preached a most excellent ser- 
mon on the important work of the Christian Ministry." 

Boardman's sermon on the eve of the Conference was no 
doubt salutary in its influence. He was a man of a sweet, 
loving spirit and well understood the delicate and responsible 
situation which the Conference was to face. 

Rankin, Shadford, and Yearby had not been in the coun- 
try quite six weeks, and they formed a third of the as- 
sembly. Webb returned from England with them and was 
again in the midst of his fellow-toilers in the American field. 
Pilmoor thus describes this important and historic synod : 
" Wednesday morning we met and entered upon our business 
in the fear of the Most High God. As Mr. Boardman and I 
had been shamefully misrepresented to Mr. Wesley, and Mr. 
Rankin sent over to take the whole management upon him- 
self, it was expected we would have pretty close work. Had 
we given place to nature and followed our own temporal in- 
terest it would probably have been so. But we considered 
and preferred the interests of religion and the honor of God, 
above all the riches and honors the whole world can bestow, 
and were determined to submit to anything consistent with 
a good conscience rather than injure the work of the Lord. 
In this spirit we were kept during the Conference. We con- 
sulted together under the tender visitations of the Almighty 
and were favored with the presence and blessing of God. So 
the enemy of souls was disappointed, and all our matters 
were settled in peace." Rankin does not speak of any lack 
of harmony in the Conference. " We parted in love," he 
says in his Journal, " and also with a full resolution to spread 
genuine Methodism in public and private with all our might." 
A pious determination to sacrifice personal prepossessions 
and prejudices and to hold conflicting opinions in abeyance 
may have saved the young Methodism of America from much 
injury, if not from disaster, at that memorable Conference. 

Asbury's few words concerning the Conference indicate 
that disturbing forces were there. He says that he arrived 
in Philadelphia " on Thursday, but did not find such harmony 



asbury's strictures about the cities 417 



as I could wish for." He declares that " there were some 
debates among the preachers in this Conference relative to 
the conduct of some who had manifested a desire to abide in 
the cities and live like gentlemen." He also makes the 
further declaration that " three years out of four have been 
already spent in the cities." Furthermore, he asserts that 
" it was also found that money had been wasted, improper 
leaders appointed and many of our rules broken." 

At this distance of time it does not seem to have been char- 
itable or fair to place in a permanent record such reflections 
respecting men of as great devotedness and laboriousness as 
were Boardman and Pilmoor. They did, it is true, concen- 
trate their efforts chiefly, but not by any means wholly, in 
two strategic American cities until they were reinforced by 
Asbury and Wright. In each of those cities there was a 
considerable society with a church edifice in debt. In 
neither city was the property deeded to the society until a 
proper conveyance thereof was made under their guidance. 
We have seen how again and again Pilmoor went forth into 
the rural parts and proclaimed Christ to the rustic popula- 
tions before Asbury saw the American shore, and no doubt 
Boardman did the same. If they evinced " a desire to abide 
in the cities," it Avas because of the urgency of the work 
there and not from a vain wish to live like gentlemen. From 
the writings they have left, and the traditions respecting 
them, it is quite apparent that Boardman and Pilmoor were 
gentlemen, and that as such they did no discredit to the 
cause for which they toiled incessantly. After Asbury and 
Wright came to their help they showed no inclination to con- 
fine their labors so much to Philadelphia and New York, but 
went forth, one southward and the other northward, to seek 
and to save the perishing. Boardman not only travelled 
to New England, but after returning thence he went to 
Maryland. Pilmoor was absent a year in his southern travels 
and labors. Asbury did not make a journey of the extent of 
that made by Pilmoor until he had been in the country more 
than thirteen years. Nor was it because Asbury pressed 
them out of the cities that they travelled abroad over so 



418 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IIST AMERICA 

many provinces, for Boardraan, and not Asbury, was at that 
time in control. Pilmoor, as we have seen, on the last day 
of April, 1772, distinctly says : "As we have now got preach- 
ers to take care of the people that God has graciously raised 
up by us in New York and Philadelphia and all the adjacent 
places, Mr. Boardman and I have agreed to go forth in the 
name of the Lord and preach the gospel in the waste places 
of the wilderness." And from the elevated point of vision 
afforded by the first Conference in America, he was able to 
declare, as he did in his Journal : " It is now near four years 
since Mr. Boardman and I arrived in America. We have 
constantly labored in the great work of the Lord and have 
preached the gospel through the Continent for more than a 
thousand miles, and formed many societies, and have above 
a thousand members, most of whom are well grounded in the 
gospel and savingly converted unto God. This hath God 
wrought, and we will exalt and glorify his adorable Name." 
I have failed to discover in Pilmoor's writings one word which 
indicates that Asbury 's words or example in any degree in- 
fluenced him and Boardman to go out from the cities and 
prosecute their laborious itinerancies in the country. 

Asbury informs us that on April 2, 1772, he came to 
Philadelphia, " and finding Brother Boardman and Brother 
Wright there, was much comforted. Brother Boardman's 
plan was that he [Boardman] should go to Boston ; Brother 
Pilmoor to Virginia ; Brother Wright to York ; and that I 
should stay three months in Philadelphia. With this I was 
well pleased."* Boardman's plan of travels for Pilmoor 
and himself was his own, and Asbury does not intimate that 
he had any relation to its inception or formulation. He 
merely says that the plan which left Wright in New York 
and himself in Philadelphia and sent Boardman to New Eng- 
land and Pilmoor to Virginia "pleased " him " well." Board- 
man at that time made the American appointments, as he 
was Mr. Wesley's General Assistant. Pilmoor and Board- 
man, however, agreed, as the former says, to "go forth in the 
waste places ; " and in making that argreement they were 

*Asbury , s Journal, Vol. I., p. 26. 



IMPORTANCE OF CITIES TO THE CHURCH 419 

not, so far as appears, affected by any promptings beyond 
those which came of their own zeal to cultivate as exten- 
sively as possible " Immanuel's ground." 

Why Asbury should have so begrudged two chief cities 
the time and the toil Boardman and Pilmoor had given to 
them we are not informed. The cities certainly were not less 
important to the rising Methodism of America than the 
sparsely populated country. At this distance of time it seems 
to have been a wise generalship that planned and wrought for 
the intrenchment of Methodism in New York and Philadel- 
phia. Powerfully fortified there it could move out more swiftly 
and mightily over the land. The fact that an Annual Confer- 
ence was now assembled in a spacious church in Philadelphia, 
which was secured under the administration of Pilmoor, and 
from which were about to be sent forth into various and dis- 
tant quarters flaming heralds of free grace, ought, it would 
seem, to have silenced these unwise, if well meant, criti- 
cisms. 

In devoting themselves principally to two chief cities Pil- 
moor and Boardman followed apostolic examples, and also in 
a good degree the example of Mr. Wesley. Wesley maintained 
headquarters in London. " The Foundry " and subsequently 
" City-Boad " and other metropolitan points received much of 
his attention and labors. The Church of the Apostles was 
chiefly in cities. So markedly w r as this so that Benan was 
almost justified in saying as he did, " This proselytism was 
confined to cities. The first Christian Apostles did not 
preach in the country." Damascus, Philippi, Thessalonica, 
Corinth, Ephesus, Athens, Borne, Jerusalem, are conspicious 
in the records of Christian propagandism in the Apostolic age. 
In those great centres of life and thought the church lifted 
her banners and thence advanced upon the surrounding 
regions. " From Athens Paul went to Corinth. He knew 
the importance of great cities. Without neglecting smaller 
places that came in his way, it was always an object with him 
to preach the Gospel where men's minds were sharpened 
by the collision of numbers, and where if he was successful 

a church would be gathered from which as from that at Thes- 

28 



420 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 



salonica, ' the word of the Lord might sound forth ' into all 
the region round about." * It was a joy to St. Paul that the 
faith of the Christians in the great city of Borne was " spoken 
of throughout the whole world." The walls of St. George's, 
it would seem, must have silently rebuked the criticisms of 
the urban labors of Pilmoor and Boardman, which, accord- 
ing to Asbury's report, found expression in that goodly tem- 
ple at the first American Conference. 

With Embury no longer in New York, and Webb absent 
in England ; with Boardman travelling abroad from New 
York to Massachusetts and afterward to Maryland ; and Pil- 
moor and Williams in the distant South, the cities seem not 
to have prospered greatly during the year following the 
spring of 1772. While these preachers were away Asbury 
and Wright remained much of the time in the region of the 
Hudson and the Delaware. The " old book " of John Street 
shows that Wright labored much in New York from the sum- 
mer of 1772 to near the end of the spring of 1773, and Asbury 
was also considerably in the two cities in the same period, 
though for nearly half a year he too was absent in Maryland. 
Boardman was in New York a part of the year that preceded 
the first Conference, and, no doubt, he was also somewhat in 
Philadelphia. Still the reports of the number of members in 
the cities show a decline. At the close of Pilmoor's first 
term of service in Philadelphia, more than three years pre- 
viously, the members in that city exceeded the number that 
were now reported there. In March, 1770, Pilmoor affirmed 
that there were 182 members in Philadelphia to whom he 
had " given tickets " and who met " in class and attended to 
all the discipline of the Methodists as well as the people in 
London or Bristol." In the middle of July, 1773, only 180 
members were enumerated in the same city, and precisely 
the same number were reported from New York. Before 
Pilmoor departed to the South he was, as we have seen, very 
solicitous about the troubles in Philadelphia and the dimin- 
ished congregations, all of which he attributed to Asbury's 
course in that city. 

* St. Paul, His Life and Ministry, by T. Binney. London, 1866. 



TEIALS IN THE NEW YOEK SOCIETY 



421 



The exercise of discipline in the cities about which As- 
bury held rigid ideas seems to have declined with the absence,, 
for a year, of Pilmoor, Webb, and Williams, and the consider- 
able absence also of Boardman and Asbury. Kankin, who is 
reputed to have been a strict disciplinarian, said at the time 
of the Conference of 1773 : " Our discipline was not properly 
attended to except at Philadelphia and New York, and even- 
in those places it was on the decline." It appears then that 
discipline had previously been maintained in the above cities, 
but when the regular ministrations of Boardman and Pilmoor 
therein had mostly ceased it suffered " decline." 

Rankin was in New York prior to the Conference, and 
his ministry apparently was profitable there. He was ap- 
pointed to that city at the Conference. Peace does not seem 
to have been restored, however. Trials such as Asbury had 
experienced there appear to have threatened Rankin, for on 
the last day of the Conference, namely, July 16th, Asbury, in 
his Journal, wrote : "I understand that some dissatisfied per- 
sons in New York threaten to shut the church door against 
Mr. Rankin. If they should be bold enough to take this 
step we shall see what the consequence will be, and no doubt 
the Lord will bring all their evil deeds to light. O that it 
may be for the salvation of their precious souls ! " 

John Street evidently was not closed against Rankin. 
After he had entered upon his work he met the society on 
the 15th of August, 1773, and spoke his mind " plainly on 
some things which," he says, "tended to hinder the work of 
God, and in which I sincerely desired to see an amendment. 
If love and harmony do not prevail among leaders and peo- 
ple, it is impossible for the work to prosper among them. A 
party spirit has greatly hindered the work of God in this 
city. I long to see it torn up by the very roots." A little 
over a fortnight after this passage was written by Rankin, 
Pilmoor heard him preach in John Street, and only " a few 
serious people " were present. Pilmoor's report of the state 
of affairs reveals the sad fact that there was agitation in New 
York. "My heart is pained," Pilmoor writes September 
15, 1773 ; " my heart is pained to see such a change in this 



422 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



city. For some years the chapel was too small ; now it is 
large enough, and is very seldom filled. All this is owing to 
the wonderful manner in which our affairs have been con- 
ducted. O, my God, look in pity upon us and revive us 
again after the time that we have suffered adversity." The 
divergence from the ideas and methods of Boardman and Pil- 
moor by Wesley's representatives, who entered into their 
labors, was evidently not agreeable to them ; and it was not 
to be expected that the flocks which they had nurtured, and 
to a considerable degree had gathered, would fail to share 
somewhat the views of their beloved shepherds. Hence the 
" party spirit " which Eankin deprecated, and the ungentle 
expressions that had been previously called forth from im- 
portant laymen by Asbury. 

We have already observed Asbury 's assertion that it was 
found at the Conference that the work had been so negligently 
administered as that "money had been wasted, improper 
leaders appointed, and many of our rules broken." Where 
these sad things happened, or whether they were general, As- 
bury does not say. Too much pastoral attention to the cities 
and defective discipline in the societies were the things con- 
cerning which he, from the first month of his appearance in 
the field, " cried aloud and spared not." When Eankin ar- 
rived Asbury hailed him " as a disciplinarian." 

Eespecting these disagreements but one side has hitherto 
been heard. Methodist historians have treated them ex 
parte ; and necessarily so, because no voice issued from the 
other side. After this long silence Joseph Pilmoor's voice 
is heard, and its utterances are pertinent and emphatic. Dr. 
Bangs, in his " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church," 
says : " It seems that notwithstanding the vigilance of Mr. 
Asbury in correcting those abuses which had arisen from the 
laxity with which discipline had been administered, many 
disorders still existed for which an adequate remedy had not 
been provided. These things had been communicated to 
Mr. Wesley, and he therefore clothed Mr. Eankin with pow- 
ers superior to any which had been vested in his prede- 
cessors in office, in the faithful exercise of which he set him- 



FIRST CONTROVERSY 1 1ST AMERICAN METHODISM 423 



self to purifying the societies from corrupt members and 
restoring things to order." Dr. Abel Stevens, in treating of 
the first American Conference in his " History of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church," says : " The preachers had formed 
societies without classes. The exact discipline of English 
Methodism had not, in fact, been yet fully introduced into 
America. Asbury labored hard to conform the American so- 
cieties to Wesley's model, but had met with no little resist- 
ance from preachers and laymen. Rankin had been sent out 
for this purpose." 

Now, had Pilmoor read these passages in prophetic vision 
the greater part of a century before they were written he 
could scarcely have replied to them more advantageously for 
himself and Boar dm an than he has done. 

I will now present in his own language what he says in 
relation to the matters mentioned by Bangs and Stevens. 
In the last week of March, 1770, Pilmoor wrote in his Journal 
thus : "In Philadelphia there are now 182 in society to whom 
I have given tickets, and they meet in class and attend to all 
the discipline of the Methodists as well as the people in Lon- 
don or Bristol. This is God's own work." 

In January, 1771, Pilmoor was in New York, enjoying a 
gracious revival season. On the 28th of that month he says : 
"I began the visitation of the classes, and found much cause 
for thankfulness on their account. The Methodists in New 
York are not one whit behind their brethren in Europe, but 
in many respects before them. This hath God wrought." 
Six months later, and also six months before Asbury arrived 
on these shores, Pilmoor in New York, July 27, 1771, said : 
" I was comforted in meeting three of the classes in the even- 
ing. I found the greater part of the members in a prosper- 
ous condition, and going on in the name of the Lord." 

In July, 1773, just after the dissolution of the first Con- 
ference, Pilmoor, in Philadelphia, wrote : " Mr. Boardman 
and I had been shamefully misrepresented to Mr. Wesley, 
and Mr. Bankin was sent over to take the whole management 
upon himself." Thus did Pilmoor by a recital of facts meet 
in advance the accusatory allegations respecting his and 



424 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

Boardman's labors as Methodist preachers and disciplina- 
rians in America. 

With this survey of the first controversy in American 
Methodism — a controversy which claimed the attention of the 
first Conference, and which I have sought to present in the 
light of historic truth — I shall leave it for more congenial 
themes. As I dismiss it, however, I must say that whatever 
difference of opinion respecting the conduct of the work was 
honestly entertained by Eankin on the one side, and by 
Boardman and Pilmoor on the other, did not prevent them 
from uniting in zealous labor for its advancement. Rankin 
and Pilmoor wrought together in New York soon after the 
Conference of 1773, and Boardman also joined Rankin in the 
work in that city. Rankin did not hesitate to speak kindly 
of them and of their ministry while he was with them. He 
referred to the simplicity of spirit in Pilmoor " that made 
him so useful when he first came to America." The peace 
and love amid which the first Conference closed, continued 
with Rankin and the two preachers, who were nearly four 
years before him in America, until Boardman and Pilmoor 
returned to England. 

One of the subjects that received consideration by the first 
Conference was that of printing books. Methodism at that 
early day was not content with proclaiming the Gospel orally, 
but it also seized the press and made it an adjunct to the 
pulpit. Wesley published as well as preached. When his 
first two missionaries came to this country, they brought 
books for the use of the people. This fact is shown by an 
entry in the "old book" of John Street, of March 31, 1770, in 
which Mr. Pilmoor is charged " to cash for books sold, 
brought from England," twenty-two pounds and eight shil- 
lings. Mr. Wesley laid upon all his preachers the work of 
selling books. 

Robert Williams was foremost in setting the Wesleyan 
printing-press in motion in America. He printed some of 
the sermons of Wesley as tracts and scattered them. Philip 
Gatch, in Maryland, in 1772, received a deeper religious im- 
pulse from reading one of Williams's tracts, namely, Wesley's 



WILLIAMS AND THE PRINTING PEESS 



425 



sermon on " Salvation by Faith." We have seen that he put 
Methodist books into the hands of the Rev. Devereux Jarratt, 
in Virginia, which was one of the means of bringing that 
powerful evangelist into such cordial and efficient co-operation 
with Methodism. In speaking of his first acquaintance with 
the Methodists, Jarratt says, " Mr. Williams furnished me 
with some of their books." Williams's labors in this sphere 
are described by Jesse Lee, who in 1774 was admitted by him 
into the Methodist society. " Robert Williams," says Lee, 
" reprinted many of Wesley's books and spread them through 
the country to the great advantage of religion. The sermons 
which he printed in small pamphlets and circulated among 
the people had a very good effect and gave the people great 
light and understanding in the nature of the new birth and in 
the plan of Salvation ; and withal they opened the way in 
many places for our preachers to be invited to preach where 
they had never been before." Thus to Robert Williams the 
distinction belongs of originating book-publishing in Ameri- 
can Methodism. 

Of the six rules that were agreed to by all the preachers in 
attendance at the first Conference, two related to printing, and 
in one of them the name of Williams is indelibly recorded. 
That historic body bore testimony to his enterprise and zeal 
in this department of Wesleyan propagandism. The germ 
which he planted has developed into the vast Methodist 
publishing-houses of our day. Those two rules were as fol- 
lows : 

"None of the preachers in America to reprint any of 
Mr. Wesley's books without his authority (when it can be 
gotten) and the consent of their brethren." 

" Robert Williams to sell the books he has already printed, 
but to print no more unless under the above restrictions." 

Williams had no voice in the Conference when these rules 
were under consideration, as he was not there. He and Will- 
iam Watters were in Virginia at that time, and it appears 
certain that neither of them were north of the Susquehanna 
until the close of the summer of 1773. Lee, however, asserts 
that unity in the book- work had become necessary. " Not- 



426 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



withstanding the good that had been done by the circulation 
of the books, it now became necessary for the preachers to be 
all united in the same cause of printing and selling our 
books." * Thus the connectional idea was approved and en- 
forced by the first Conference in relation to the use of the 
press. The practical, far-sighted wisdom of the men compos- 
ing that Conference is herein shown. The maintainance and 
dominance of their views on this subject in the denomination 
has made possible the immense work it has acheived in build- 
ing its flourishing religious publishing-houses, and in sending 
out therefrom over the country and the world a varied and 
holy literature, reminding us of the tree in the vision of the 
apocalyptic seer which bore a variety of fruit perennially, 
and whose "leaves were for the healing of the nations." 

The consolidation of the work of printing into unity, 
which was accomplished by the preachers at the first Confer- 
ence, contemplated also, as Jesse Lee asserts, the division of 
" the profits arising therefrom among them," or their applica- 
tion " to some charitable purpose." The direction thus and 
then given to the produce of the business yet continues. 
This action by the first Conference in unifying the publishing 
work was a decisive step in the direction of founding those 
great book concerns which have attained to unrivalled mag- 
nitude, and yielded results as beneficent as they have been 
vast. How mighty and far-reaching have been the effects of 
the causes in this particular which the first Conference set in 
operation ! No doubt, however, Mr. Wesley's instructions 
were the guide of the Conference on this as on other matters, 
yet the preachers acted by agreeing thereto. 

The first Conference also provided a Discipline for the 
American Methodists. It was not voluminous, but it fur- 
nished a few important landmarks by which to steer the new 
Wesleyan bark. Since that Conference the discipline of the 
Methodist Connection, like a tree full of sap, has been grow- 
ing, while useless branches have been removed. 

The first of these disciplinary landmarks was the decla- 
ration of allegiance to Mr. Wesley. His authority was ac- 

* Lee's History of the Methodists. 



WESLEY IN AUTHOKITY IN AMERICA 427 



cepted as paramount. The first Conference answered " Yes " 
to the following questions : 1. " Ought not the authority of 
Mr. Wesley and that Conference [Wesley's] to extend to the 
preachers and people in America, as well as in Great Britain 
and Ireland ? " 

2. "Ought not the doctrine and Discipline of the Metho- 
dists as contained in the Minutes * to be the sole rule of our 
conduct, who labor in the connexion with Mr. Wesley in 
America ? " They furthermore declared that " if any preacher 
deviate from the Minutes we can have no fellowship with 
them till they change their conduct." 

Thus by their unqualified declaration the Key. J ohn Wes- 
ley was acknowledged and received as the ecclesiastical head of 
the Methodists in this country. " At that time," says Jesse 
Lee, in his "History of the Methodists," "the Methodists 
in America considered themselves as much under the direc- 
tion of Mr. Wesley as were the European Methodists ; for 
they were dependent on him to send them preachers and 
.such directions as he thought best. Of course the preachers 
agreed to submit to Mr. Wesley's authority and to abide by 
his doctrine and discipline as established in England. This 
resolution was both wise and prudent, and tended to keep 
them united, and afterwards it had the same good effect 
among the private members." Thus at this original Meth- 
odist Conference the members and preachers were united in 
connectional bonds. 

Another landmark which the first Conference established 
related to the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Sup- 
per. The sacramental controversy which a few years later 
threatened the disruption of the American Methodists was 
projected upon the Conference of 1773. Robert Straw- 
bridge, as we have seen, administered the sacraments in 
Maryland before any of the missionaries whom Wesley for- 
mally appointed to America went to that province. He did 
not by this course, however, violate any discipline, for Wes- 

* The Minutes referred to were those of the English Wesleyan Conference which 
had been issued annually since and including 1744. They contained both rules 
and doctrines. 



428 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

ley had not yet taken charge of Strawbridge's work through 
his chosen deputies. Therefore Strawbridge was free to 
formulate discipline for himself and the converts he gathered 
together. The scarcity of the sacraments in some parts 
seemed to make it imperative that the Methodist preachers 
should administer them to their people. To do so, however, 
was contrary to the Wesleyan order. When that order was 
formally established by the Conference of 1773, it seems to 
have been known, or at least believed by the body, that Rob- 
ert Strawbridge would not regard it. Both his convictions 
and practice were hostile to that feature of Wesleyanisin. To 
prevent the spread of Strawbridge's ideas and the influence 
of his example, the first Conference adopted the following 
rule : " Every preacher who acts in connection with Mr. 
Wesley and the brethren who labor in America, is strictly to 
avoid administering the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's 
Supper." Though in the Minutes this rule appears without 
any qualification, yet Asbury informs us that the Conference 
qualified it by excepting Strawbridge. The rule, as Asbury 
in his Journal gives it, was thus : " No preacher in our 
connexion shall be permitted to administer the Ordinances 
at this time, except Mr. S., and he under the particular 
direction of the assistant." Lee says that " none of the 
annual Minutes were published until the year 1785." The 
first Volume of Minutes was issued from the press in 1795. 
When the Minutes of the first Conference came to the types 
years after it was held and after the death of Strawbridge, it 
was no doubt thought wise to omit the reference to him in 
the rule concerning the sacraments and to print it as it now 
stands. " The necessity of this rule," says Lee, " appeared 
in the conduct of Mr. Strawbridge, a local preacher, who had 
taken on him to administer the ordinances among the Metho- 
dists without the consent of their preachers, who at that time 
were all lay preachers. We were only a religious society and 
not a Church. But as the most of our society had been 
brought up in the Church of England (so-called), and espe- 
cially those of Maryland and Virginia, it was recommended 
to them to attend on the service of that Church and to par- 



THE PREACHERS STATIONED AT FIRST CONFERENCE 429 

take of the Ordinances at the hands of the ministers, for at 
that time the Chnrch people were established by law in Mary- 
land and Virginia, and the ministers were supported by a 
tax on the people. In many places for a hundred miles to- 
gether there was no one to baptize a child, except a minister 
of the established Church."* Hence the first Conference 
directed that " all the people among whom we labor be 
earnestly exhorted to attend the Church and to receive the Or- 
dinances there ; but in particular to press the people in Mary- 
land and Virginia to the observance of this Minute." Lee 
says that " the greatest objection to this plan was that by far 
the greater part of the clergy of the established Church 
were destitute of religion." 

Only two other regulations were adopted, one of which 
was that "no person or persons be admitted into our love- 
feasts oftener than twice or thrice, unless they become mem- 
bers ; and none to be admitted to the society meetings more 
than thrice." The admission to these meetings of persons 
who were not members was one of the things alleged against 
the administration of Boardman and Pilmoor. Now a limit 
to the attendance of such persons at these meetings was 
authoritatively fixed. The other and last regulation made by 
the Conference was that " every preacher who acts as assist- 
ant is to send an account of the work once in six months to 
the General Assistant." Rankin was now the General Assist- 
ant, and as such presided at the Conference and stationed the 
preachers. The stations were : New York : Thomas Rankin. 
Philadelphia : George Shadford, to change in four months. 
New Jersey : John King, William Watters. Watters did not 
go to that field, however, but remained in Virginia until the 
end of the summer, and then returned to Maryland, after 
which he went to travel on Kent Circuit, and still later in 
the Conference year he labored in Baltimore. King was in 
New Jersey at least once in that year, but whether he did 
much work there is not known. To Baltimore were assigned 
Francis Asbury, Robert Strawbridge, Abraham Whitworth, 
Joseph Yearby. Richard Wright was appointed to Norfolk, 

* Lee's History of the Methodists, pp. 47-8. 



430 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

and Eobert Williams to Petersburg. Such was the distribu- 
tion of the laborers at the first American Conference. 

Kankin says the Conference sat Wednesday, Thursday, 
and Friday, July 14, 15, 16, 1773, and that seven preachers 
were present beside Boardman and Pilmoor. Stevens, in 
noting the arrival of Asbury the second day of the session, 
says he made the tenth preacher in attendance. This asser- 
tion is not warranted by Rankin, who gives the total number 
as nine, inclusive of Boardman and Pilmoor. The only 
members of the Conference who left any account of it were 
Rankin, Pilmoor, and Asbury, and no one of these has given 
us the names of the preachers who were present. It is 
known that the following named men were there : Richard 
Boardman, Joseph Pilmoor, Francis Asbury, Thomas Ran- 
kin, and George Shadford. Williams and Watters were not 
present. To obtain the nine who, according to Rankin, were 
in attendance, we must take four names from the six follow- 
ing : John King, Robert Strawbridge, Abraham Whitworth, 
Joseph Yearby, Richard Wright, and Captain Webb. Webb 
almost certainly was there, but as he was not to be stationed 
it is not certain whether Rankin included him in the number 
of the attendants he reported. Pilmoor was in Philadelphia 
before, during, and after the Conference, and as he gives no 
intimation of the presence of either Strawbridge or King in 
that city in the summer of 1773 it seems probable that they 
were the absent men. If they were, the personnel of the Con- 
ference was as. follows : Boardman, Pilmoor, Webb, Asbury, 
Wright, Rankin, Shadford, Yearby, Whitworth. 

Most of these men we have encountered already in our 
narrative. Of Yearby and Whitworth we know but little. 
Yearby came over with Rankin and Shadford, but preached 
only a year or two in connection with the Conference. 
Whitworth was an Englishman, probably of uncommon elo- 
quence, who preached in New Jersey in the summer and au- 
tumn of 1772. His chief distinction seems to have arisen 
from the fact that he was instrumental in effecting the moral 
and spiritual reformation of the famous Benjamin Abbott, 
who, at the time of the session of the first Conference, had 



CHARACTER OF WILLIAM WATTERS 



431 



not begun his extraordinary ministry. Whitworth lapsed 
morally, and Abbott in his Life refers to his fall. His sin, 
it is said, was intemperance. A passage in Asbury's Journal, 
July 23, 1774, apparently relates to Whitworth, though only 
initials are given. It is this : "A letter from Mr. K. [ankin ?] 
brought melancholy tidings of A. W. Alas for that man ! 
He has been useful, but was puffed up, and so fell into the 
snare of the devil. My heart pitied him, but I fear he died a 
backslider." 

The name of William Watters appears in the Minutes of 
the first Conference, although he did not attend it. Against 
the claim that he was the first travelling preacher produced 
by Methodism in this country stands the fact that Edward 
Evans itinerated and died in New Jersey before Watters be- 
gan to preach. In his autobiography Watters says he was 
the "first American" who went " out among the Methodists 
to preach the Gospel." Probably he had not heard of Evans, 
who had finished his course. There is no evidence that 
Evans was not an American by birth. He certainly appears 
to have begun his work as a Methodist preacher here. We 
have seen that in the autumn of 1772 Watters went forth 
from Maryland with Robert Williams, and that he joined 
Pilmoor at Norfolk the eighteenth of November in that year. 

He was born October 6, 1751, was converted in Baltimore 
County, Md., in May, 1771, and was in the itinerancy from 
1772 to 1783, when he located. He returned to the ranks 
for a very brief time in 1786, and then again in 1801, remain- 
ing in the itinerancy until 1806, when he finally retired. He 
owned a considerable farm near Langley, Virginia, where he 
lived in comfort above forty years, and there, according to 
the record in his family Bible, he died October 29, 1827. 
His grave is not far from the house which was so long his 
home. 

Watters was a spotless, zealous, beloved, and successful 
Methodist preacher. His voice was sweet, and his manner 
quiet, and he sometimes greatly moved the people. He was 
in the best sense a popular preacher. The Be v. Bichard 
Tydings in 1812 travelled Fairfax Circuit, Virginia, within 



432 



THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



which Watters lived. Ty dings says Watters's head was " al- 
most as white as wool. Before him I had to preach about 
twice or three times every four weeks, and what oppressed 
and afflicted me most was that I had to lead him in class. 
After some time, discovering my embarrassment, he talked to 
me about it and said: 'You must not be or do so.' I shall 
never forget the answer I gave him. I told him he might 
talk as he pleased, but it was utterly impossible for me to 
look at his gray head and feel otherwise than I did, so he 
turned away and said no more to me about the matter. I 
never heard him laugh and seldom ever saw him smile, and 
thought I had hardly ever seen in all my life a more vener- 
able-looking man. His preaching was plain, but sound and 
strong. Notwithstanding he had lived many years in the 
place where I found him, and had preached much at home 
and in the surrounding cities — Washington, Georgetown, and 
Alexandria — no man was more acceptable in the pulpit than 
he, or could command at all times larger congregations." * 
In regard to abstaining from laughter Watters, in his Life, 
(p. 41), says : "I do confess that lightness and trifling on any 
occasion ill becomes a Christian, and especially a preacher of 
the gospel. Let others plead the innocence or usefulness of 
levity : I cannot ; though God knows I am too often betrayed 
into it, but never without feeling that it more or less unfits 
me for that deep recollection and that constant communica- 
tion with the Lord which nothing should for a moment inter- 
rupt." 

George Shadford powerfully assisted in advancing the 
new cause in America. He was a sturdy champion of the 
faith, but of only mediocre ability as a preacher. Both 
here and in England he was noted for his power in prayer. 
Freeborn Garrettson, in his Semi-Centennial sermon, refers 
to the Conference of 1777, the last that Kankin and Shad- 
ford attended, and says : " I shall never forget the parting 
prayer of that blessed servant of God, Mr. Shadford. The 
place seemed to be shaken with the power of God." The 

* Sketch of the Rev. Richard Ty dings' s Life, appended to his Refutation of 
the Doctrine of Uninterrupted Apostolic Succession, p. 309. Louisville, 1844. 



shadford' s successful ministry 



433 



historian of Methodism in the city of Norwich, England, 
where, shortly after he left America, Shadford labored, says 
"he was mighty in prayer." Herein lay the chief secret of 
his success. His discourses were simple, methodical, plain, 
clear, full of Scriptural phraseology, and delivered with 
pathos.* Lorkin, in his " History of Wesleyan Methodism 
in Norwich," declares that Shadford, who was in that circuit in 
1779, " was a most alarming preacher," and he adds that his 
" labors were generally useful and acceptable to the people. 
One instance of the fruit of his ministry, I well remember, 
was a man of most infamous character, noted for his extreme 
wickedness, who from mere curiosity went to hear Mr. Shad- 
ford. He was deeply convinced of his sin and danger, and 
soundly converted. A short time after he was taken ill, and 
died happy in the favor of God." 

Jesse Lee must often have heard Shadford preach in Vir- 
ginia in 1775. The biographer of Lee says: "Mr. Shadford 
preached in a bold, energetic style, searching the heart, and 
stripping the sinner and false professor of every refuge ; 
sometimes proclaiming the law from Sinai, and then point- 
to the blood of Jesus Christ." 

The Rev. Devereux Jarratt describes a great revival of 
religion in Virginia which broke out in December, 1775, but 
increased to greater magnitude in January, 1776. It began at 
nearly the same time in three places. One of the places was 
in Amelia County and " had for many years," says Jarratt, 
" been notorious for carelessness, profaneness and immoralities 
of all kinds. Gaming, swearing, drunkenness and the like 
were their delight, while things sacred w T ere their scorn and 
contempt. Mr. Shadford preached several times at the three 
places above mentioned and to many not in vain. While 
their ears were opened by novelty, God set his word home 
upon their hearts. Many sinners were powerfully convinced, 
and ' Mercy ! Mercy! ' was their cry." 

Shadford was appointed to Brunswick Circuit, Virginia, at 
the Conference in 1775. Shadford " found there," says Rankin, 

* Life of Shadford, in Jackson's Lives of Early Methodist Preachers, Vol. 
VI. London. 



434 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



"about eight hundred joined together, but in a very confused 
manner. When Mr. Shadford took an account of the societies 
before he came to the Conference in 1776 they contained two 
thousand six hundred and sixty-four persons, of whom 
eighteen hundred were added in one year. Above a thousand 
of these had found peace with God, many of whom thirsted 
for all the mind that was in Christ."* Shadford, in going to 
Virginia, was dejected in spirit, and says he was amazed when 
he first began to preach there, "for I seldom preached a 
sermon but some were convinced and converted, often three 
or four at a time." 

Mr. Shadford seems to have returned to England in the 
spring of 1778 with Kankin in Captain Parker's ship. He 
was useful in the ministry there after his return, but for many 
years before his death was on the retired list. He died 
March 11, 1816, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. His 
last words were : "I'll praise, I'll praise, I'll praise." 

The greatest man that sat in the first American Conference 
no doubt was Francis Asbury, who was to become one of the 
grandest heroes of modern Christian history. Of Pauline 
consecration, he, like Paul, was destined to be "in labors 
more abundant," and daily to bear " the care of all the 
Churches." As he sat in Conference with his brethren his 
inherent greatness was not fully seen. But twenty-eight 
years old, there had not come to him the varied experience 
and mature wisdom which were to render him so eminently 
the master of the great opportunities which in the course of 
Divine Providence were given to him. He was to shape and 
impel, to a success then undreamed of, the movement which 
had brought into existence that humble convocation of 
Wesleyan preachers in Philadelphia in 1773. Henceforth 
until his death in 1816 his genius for ecclesiastical leadership, 
his saintly devotion, his unceasing and phenomenal travels 
and labors were to become a part of the history of American 
Methodism and of American Christianity. 

The most conspicuous figure in this historic Conference 
was Thomas Rankin. He sat as chief in authority under 

* A Brief Narrative of the Revival in Virginia, pp. 30-31. London, 1778. 



EFFECTS TINDER RANKINGS P REACHING 435 



Mr. Wesley, Of strong character, sound intellect, and vig- 
orous adherence to his convictions, his administration was 
to prove successful. William Watters heard him preach, and 
says, " I was much pleased with him ; T always thought him 
qualified to fill his place as General Assistant among us, not- 
withstanding his particularities. He was not only a man o£ 
grace, but of strong and quick parts." * 

Had he remained here without displaying his hostility to» 
the American war Eankin would almost certainly have con- 
tinued in authority, and in that case Asbury would not have 
come to the superintendency in 1784. His departure, together 
with that of the other English preachers from this country, 
gave to Asbury his vast opportunity, and left him in control 
of the work. 

Kankin was a 23reacher of good abilities, and at times he 
was very powerful. Pilmoor heard him in New York on the 
first Sunday in September, 1773, and remarked that "he 
seemed to have liberty and power in dispensing the Word." 
Eankin was preaching on Sunday afternoon, June 30, 1776, 
at Boisseau's Chapel, Virginia, from the text, " I have set 
before thee an open door and none can shut it." In the 
progress of the sermon hundreds fell to the ground. Stream- 
ing eyes, groans and strong cries that drowned the preacher's 
voice showed the intensity of the emotion that shook the 
congregation as a forest is swept by a tornado. Eankin sat 
down in the pulpit and with Shadford observed the extraor- 
dinary scene, which continued for over an hour. It was 
with difficulty that the people could be persuaded to return 
to their homes as night drew on. t 

Notwithstanding occasional instances in which he Avielded' 
rare power over his audiences, Eankin could scarcely be called 
a popular preacher. He had personal peculiarities that 
diminished his pulpit attractiveness. X The most striking 
traits in his character, according to his biographer, were 
"sincerity, steadiness, and sobriety." "He was a man truly 

* Watters's Life, p. 35. 

t A Brief Narrative of the Revival of Religion in Virginia, pp. 30-31. 
X Life of Rankin, in Jackson's Lives of Early Methodist Preachers, Vol. V. 
29 



436 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



devoted to God, and in death witnessed a good confession. 
He finished his course with joy " * May 17, 1810. 

Robert Strawbridge proceeded independently. He would 
administer the sacraments according to his own plan despite 
the authority of the Conference. In 1778 the Conference 
asked the following question : " Shall we guard against a 
separation from the Church, directly or indirectly? " The 
answer given was, "By all means." Being a movement in 
the Church of England, Methodism directed its adherents to 
obtain the sacraments from ordained ministers of that 
Church. Asbury strongly objected to the course of Straw- 
bridge, but the latter was unyielding. " I read a part of our 
minutes," says Asbury, " to see if Brother Strawbridge would 
conform, but he appeared to be inflexible. He would not ad- 
minister the ordinances under our direction at all." Prob- 
ably it was because of this that his name appeared in the 
Minutes only once after the first Conference. 

Strawbridge, however, was to the end a Methodist 
preacher, who could not be moved from his loyalty to what 
he believed was right. In the summer of 1781 he died. His 
convert, Owen, preached his funeral sermon. His successful 
labors as a founder and builder of Methodism in one of its 
chief fields have made his 

" One of the few, the immortal names 
That were not born to die. " 

Such was the first Conference of Methodism in America 
and the men who composed it. It was the day of small 
things. But a larger field and greater conquests were now 
before the rising Church. When in 1778 Rankin laid down 
his authority and sailed for Cork he left behind him about 
six thousand members, which was a decline of nearly one 
thousand from the preceding year, which loss no doubt was 
due to the war of the Revolution. 



* Life of Rankin, in Jackson's Lives of Early Methodist Preachers, Vol. V. 



THIRD PERIOD. 



From the First Conference to the Departure of 
boardman and pllmoor to england. 

Haying brought this history down to the close of the first 
American Conference, which established the Methodist con- 
nection in America, I might appropriately lay down my pen. 
But two of the foremost instruments in bringing forth this 
important result — Boardman and Pilmoor — continued their 
ministry in this country nearly six months after the close of 
the Conference, and then they returned to England. For the 
sake of completing the remaining part of the period of their 
labors, I shall proceed with my narrative down to the time of 
their departure from the country. 

Pilmoor remained but two days in Philadelphia after the 
first Conference rose. On the nineteenth of July, 1773, he 
started with Henry Newton in the stage for New York, where 
they arrived in the evening of the next day. He had very 
many of the people visit him on his return after an absence 
of over fourteen months. Boardman also returned to New 
York shortly after the Conference, and on Sunday, the first 
of August, Pilmoor asserts that "Mr. Boardman preached a 
profitable sermon on Walking with God." The next day 
Bankin, Boardman, and Pilmoor dined with a Mr. Vanhorne, 
who was accustomed to entertain Mr. Whitefield. That after-* 
noon Pilmoor visited a young man in the jail who was under 
sentence of death, and who acknowledged his wretchedness 
with tears. Pilmoor "spoke to him of the heinousness of sin, 
prayed with him and left him to the Mercy of the great High 
Priest." The following Sabbath Bankin preached in John 
Street, morning and evening ; Pilmoor was not present on ac- 
count of a severe ague and fever. The next Sunday morning 
he was able to preach in John Street. 



438 



THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEKICA 



Though still feeble, he started for the country with Mr. 
Crook, August 18, 1773. They went on board Mr. Smith's 
" boat at seven o'clock, and about ten landed at his home, near 
West Chester." While in the country he spent a night at 
Philip Bartow's. Pilmoor also called on Mr. Abrahams, at 
New Rochelle, where he met his friend, Mr. Theodosius Bar- 
tow, with whom, he says, " I am closely united in the bonds 
of brotherly love." Sunday morning, the twenty-second of 
August, he preached to "a small but serious congregation, 
and in the afternoon he went to Mr. Devou's, where, he says, 
" I found a great number of people gathered from various 
quarters," to whom he preached the word, and on Monday 
preached again. Three days later Mr. Devou accompanied 
him to Mr. Bennett's, where in the evening he preached to a 
large company. The following day he preached again. On 
Sunday, August 29, he had a small company in the morn- 
ing, " but in the afternoon the people flocked from all quar- 
ters, so that we had the largest congregation," he says, " I 
ever saw in this country before. When preaching was over I 
met the society and found them fully determined to run with 
patience the race set before them." The next day he went 
to Mr. Abraham's and the following morning " set out pretty 
early and reached New York in time to preach in the evening." 
The next evening Rankin preached there to a few people. 
Pilmoor deplored the effect of the change in the adminis- 
tration in New York, which was shown in the diminished 
congregations. The following day Pilmoor visited the jail. 

The third of October, 1773, Rankin left New York City 
for a short trip in the country, leaving Pilmoor in the city. 
The ensuing Sunday Pilmoor was in John Street in the morn- 
ing hour, and at ten at Trinity Church, where he enjoyed the 
sacrament. At six Rankin preached, "and seemed to have 
liberty and power." Pilmoor attended Dr. Ogilvie's lecture 
at night, with which he was " pleased and profited." Dr. John 
Ogilvie was then fifty years old, and died November 26, 1774. 
He was a missionary to the Mohawks and for ten years labored 
in behalf of the Indians. In 1764 he was appointed assistant 
minister to Trinity Church, New York. The evening after 



RANKIN AND PILMOOR IN NEW YORK 



439 



Ogilvie's lecture, Pilmoor preached in John Street to a large 
congregation. 

September eighth, 1773, John Wallace and some others 
from Philadelphia arrived in New York, having come " an 
hundred miles to visit the people of God." The ensuing Fri- 
day was set " apart as a day of fasting and prayer for a re- 
vival of the work of the Lord." "At the watch meeting," 
says Pilmoor, " we had many to join with us and found it a 
season of grace." The next day he spent " an hour with the 
rector, who," he says, "received me very kindly and treated 
me with the utmost respect." On Sunday, November 12, 
Bankin preached in John Street in the evening, and Pilmoor 
" met the society ; " then Pilmoor went over to Paulus Hook, 
now Jersey City, with his " Philadelphia friends in order to 
be ready for the stage in the morning." They left the Hook 
about four on Monday morning, and at night arrived at 
Princeton. Tuesday Pilmoor stopped at Trenton, New Jer- 
sey, to visit the society and preached there three times. In 
the evening of his arrival he " preached in the shell of the 
new chapel in Trenton, and many of the hearers seemed 
deeply affected with the word. The next night [Wednesday] 
the congregation was much larger, and the power of God was 
present to heal the broken-hearted." Thursday he preached 
again in Trenton. 

It is thus made apparent that in the middle of September, 
1773, the chapel at Trenton, though unfinished, was used for 
preaching. The indefiniteness of Asbury's journalistic records 
detract from their value. Asbury says that he was in New Jer- 
sey from April 17 to the 22nd, and in that time he saw " the 
foundation laid of a new preaching house 35 feet by 30 ; " but 
he does not indicate the place, nor does he intimate in what lo- 
cality he was in any of the days that he then spent in New Jer- 
sey. Now, we learn from Pilmoor that it must have been at 
Trenton that he saw the foundation of a chapel laid, for it no 
doubt was in the structure reared upon that foundation that Pil- 
moor preached at Trenton five months later. The church at 
Trenton was the first that was built by the Methodists in New 
Jersey, and apparently it was the third that they oivned in 



440 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 



America prior to the first Conference. Greenwich Church, as 
Ave have seen, was built by the people of that community two 
years earlier, and was served by Edward Evans, a Methodist 
preacher, but it belonged chiefly to Episcopalians, and after 
Mr. Evans's death the Methodists who belonged to the society 
went out from the edifice. On Friday, the seventeenth of Sep- 
tember, says Pilmoor, " I took leave of the dear people of Tren- 
ton, went on with the stage to Bristol, and crossed over the ferry 
to visit the city of Burlington." He preached in the evening 
in the court-house in Burlington, and also the next evening. 
On Sunday morning at ten o'clock he had another meeting, 
and at four he met the society which was formed by Captain 
"Webb nearly three years previously. Sunday evening he 
preached to the largest congregation he ever saw in Burling- 
ton before. " My soul," he says, " was exceedingly happy in 
speaking for God, his presence filled the place, and the 
hearts of the people were greatly affected. After preaching 
I spoke to them of the nature and design of the United So- 
ciety, and exhorted them to share in the blessings of it." 

The next day, September 20, 1773, Pilmoor went to Phila- 
delphia, where he found Shadford preaching. " The dear 
people flocked about me," he says, " and seemed as glad as if 
they had received me from the dead. These precious follow- 
ers of Jesus never vary in their affection for Mr. Boardman 
and me. Our hearts are united in love." Soon after this he 
breakfasted with Mr. Winner, where he conversed with a gen- 
tleman who thought the Methodist preachers had " as much 
right to administer the sacraments as to preach ; " and won- 
dered how they could be satisfied without them. The lack of 
the sacraments was now the most ominous fact in the newly 
established connection. That night Pilmoor preached in 
Philadelphia, and the " rest of the week was taken up with 
study and visiting the people, who are still zealous for God, 
but nothing like what I have known them." He says, " how 
apt men are to leave their first love and to become cold and 
indifferent. O that God may rekindle the sacred fire." 

Sunday, September 26, Pilmoor was greatly blest in Phila- 
delphia " both in hearing and preaching." The next day he at- 



WILLIAMS IN PHILADELPHIA AND NEW JERSEY 441 

tended the "Friends' meeting and was enabled to worship 
God in the Spirit," and at night he " preached the gospel of 
the kingdom." The next day he visited " the prisoners in the 
jail," and preached " salvation to the poor." On Saturday, 
October 2, he met the children and penitents. The next 
evening he preached in St. George's to " the largest congre- 
gation that had been there for more than a year." Pilmoor 
continued his zealous toil in Philadelphia until Friday, Octo- 
ber 7, 1773, on which day, he says, " I was comforted by 
the arrival of Mr. Williams from Virginia, and we rejoiced 
together in the Lord." The following Sunday morning 
Williams preached in Philadelphia, " and gave us," says Pil- 
moor, " a useful discourse." Afterward they heard Mr. 
Stringer in St. Paul's, and Mr. Duche in Christ Church, " and 
at night St. George's was crowded with hearers," to whom 
Pilmoor preached. " After sermon," he says, " God com- 
forted our hearts at the General Society." . 

He went into New Jersey on the twelfth of October, 1773, 
and Eobert Williams was with him at Mount Holly, where 
there was a fine congregation that day, to whom Pilmoor 
preached "in the Presbyterian meeting, and deep serious- 
ness," he says, " sat upon every face while I explained and 
enforced these words of our Lord, ' Be ye therefore Beady.' " 
Aite? the sermon " Mr. Williams gave a profitable exhorta- 
tion," says Pilmoor, " and then we went on about seven miles 
with Mr. Bond, to his house, near Juliustown. At ten o'clock 
the next day I preached in a tavern in the town, and had 
great freedom and enlargedness of heart. Afterward I went 
on with Mr. Bond and his family to New Mills [Pemberton], 
where I preached in the Baptist meeting. There also I had 
great comfort in preaching the gospel, and was made to re- 
joice in hope that I did not labor in vain. I returned to Mr. 
Bond's, where I spent the evening in conversation with sev- 
eral persons who had been to hear me preach." On the four- 
teenth he returned to Philadelphia, having given two days to 
New Jersey. Two of the places at which he preached have 
from that day been conspicuous in New Jersey Methodism — 
Mount Holly and Pemberton. It has been thought that the 



442 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

church at Pemberton was the first Methodist sanctuary in 
New Jersey. Pilmoor has told us that he preached in the 
chapel at Trenton before he made this visit to Pemberton. 
If there had been a chapel at Pemberton he would scarcely 
have preached in the Baptist meeting, as he did. Therefore 
it is apparent that there was no Methodist Church at Pem- 
berton in September, 1773. 

Rankin and Pilmoor both were in Philadelphia and both 
preached there on the twentieth of October. The following 
Sunday, the 26th, Robert Williams preached in Philadelphia. 
The next day, Monday, Rankin preached at six in the morn- 
ing in that town, and in the evening George Shadford, who 
was about to leave for New York, preached his farewell 
sermon in Philadelphia. The next evening Pilmoor heard 
Rankin. 

Philadelphia was now left with a diminished minis- 
terial force, Shadford having departed for New York, and 
about the same time, in the closing days of October, 1773, 
Rankin, Williams, and Ebert started for quarterly meet- 
ing in Maryland. This is the last time we meet Williams in 
the North. He had made a round in New Jersey during this 
visit, but soon he was back in Virginia, where, in 1774, he 
formed the first circuit in that province and began to receive 
members into society. Within two years his wide and 
laborious travels and his aggressive and very fruitful ministry 
ceased, and he was laid to rest near where he lived after his 
last marriage, between Norfolk and Suffolk, in Virginia. In 
referring to the departure of the above-named preachers to 
Maryland, which was Rankin's first journey thither, Pilmoor 
remarks : " The Lord has so blessed our labors in that 
province, especially in Baltimore County, that we have now 
a large body of people as closely united as our brethren in 
Europe, and as lively and zealous as the original Methodists." 
To this result the devoted and indefatigable Williams greatly 
contributed. 

Pilmoor continued to labor in Philadelphia, visiting from 
house to house, meeting the children on Saturday afternoons, 
and attending to all departments of the work. The last 



PILMOOR IN PHILADELPHIA 443 

Sunday night of October " we had," he says, " one of our old 
congregations." On the second of November he heard John 
Brainard, brother to David Brainard, and his successor as 
missionary to the Indians. His discourse on the revival of 
religion was, says Pilmoor, "very profitable." November 13 
he saw "the Kev. Mr. Caldwell, an excellent minister of 
Christ from Elizabethtown," N. J., to whom there is a reference 
in an earlier part of our narrative. Of Mr. Caldwell, Pilmoor 
now says : " God has greatly honored him of late with won- 
derful success in his ministry and my heart rejoices in his 
prosperity." After meeting the children on Saturday, Novem- 
ber 13, Pilmoor "went to hear a young man who," he says, 
" is lately come up from Maryland. He seemed to be in a 
measure engaged for God, but nothing like so zealous as I 
expected. However, my heart rejoices that the Lord is rais- 
ing up laborers and thrusting them out to proclaim salvation 
in the deserts." It is certain, as a collation of statements in 
Asbury's Journal, in Gatch's life, and in Pilmoor's Journal 
shows, that this young man was Philip Gatch. Very soon 
after Pilmoor heard him Gatch went into New Jersey with 
John King, which fact shows that King was at this time in 
Philadelphia. It is also clear that Kankin had now returned 
to that city from Maryland, as he brought Gatch with him. 

Rankin was ill after he returned from Maryland, so that 
Pilmoor had to fill his appointments for two or three days. 
On the 25th of November Pilmoor "was comforted under 
Mr. Rankin." On December second there appeared in 
Philadelphia Richard Boardman, who, says Pilmoor, " is 
dearer to me than most other preachers, being my fellow 
laborer and companion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus. 
At night he gave us an excellent sermon on gospel holiness, 
which was much blest to the congregation." The next night 
Rankin " showed the nature of that river that makes glad the 
city of God." On the eighth of December, 1773, Pilmoor 
went to Burlington, New Jersey, and preached there that 
evening to a congregation "considerably large and deeply 
attentive." Mr. Boardman being anxious to see him in New 
York to consult about their return to Europe he "set off early 



444 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

in the morning with the stage and reached Amboy about six 
in the evening." The next day, says Pilmoor, " we took boat 
for New York. The wind presently rose and was quite con- 
trary. We had many women on board who were greatly dis- 
tressed, especially when we struck two or three times upon 
the shoals. They cried out most lamentably and entreated 
me to persuade the Captain to turn back. In our distress my 
heart was lifted to the Lord, and he gave me a confident hope 
that all would be well. This so affected me that I spoke to 
my fellow-passengers and bade them be of good cheer, for no 
harm would come to any of us, but all would be brought safe 
to the land ; and so it was, for after we had beat about for 
seven hours, during which time we were in the utmost distress, 
the Lord brought us all safe to New York, and I had the 
happiness to hear Mr. Boardman in the evening." 

Captain Webb and Pilmoor now met again in New York, 
where so many times they had communed and toiled and re- 
joiced together. On Sunday morning, December 12, 1773, the 
Captain preached in John Street " with much zeal and devo- 
tion, and the Lord gave his blessing to the word. In the 
evening," Pilmoor adds, " our chapel was crowded as it used 
to be some years ago, and my Master was with me in preach- 
ing the word of his grace." 

This is the last time we shall meet Captain Webb in our 
narrative. He lived in New York prior to his conversion and 
years before Embury began his ministry there. Webb was 
married to his second wife in New York, and was there en- 
gaged in promoting a real-estate enterprise — by seeking to sell 
or settle a large tract of western lands. He must have re- 
turned to England subsequently, for there he was converted. 
He was not a stranger in New York, therefore, when he ap- 
peared at the side of Embury and became such an effective 
instrument in advancing the new and feeble Wesley an move- 
ment in that city. After his lengthened and successful labors 
in American Methodism he amid the turbulence of the Kev- 
olutionary times found it prudent to return to England. He 
was an outspoken loyalist, and he aroused antipathies by his 
indiscretions respecting the war. " Tradition sometimes tells 



CAPTAIN WEBB 



445 



truths of which the history of the times says nothing, and it 
is certain that in the reminiscences of the aged Methodists we 
find that Captain Webb was so imprudent in speaking against 
opposition to Britain that he was obliged to hide away in the 
premises of a reputed Tory, near New Mills, [Pemberton, 
New Jersey,] for some months before he could make his 
escape to England." * 

After his return to England, Webb lived for a time in 
Bath, where his devotion and zeal shone forth in their old- 
time lustre, and he was known there as a man deeply expe- 
rienced in the things of God. Afterward his residence was in 
Bristol. In that city he died suddenly in the night of Pe- 
cember 10, 1796. He was a true " hero of Methodism," and 
in its history his name must ever be illustrious. 

The treatment Pilmoor and Boardman received induced 
Pilmoor to write : " How wonderful it is that the people are 
as eager to hear Mr. Boardman and me as they were the first 
day we arrived in America. Blessed be God who has kept us 
by his gracious power, so that we have not done anything to 
hinder our usefulness in this country, or make the people 
wish to have us removed." 

No ship being ready to sail, Pilmoor returned to Philadel- 
phia. On Sunday evening, December 19, Rankin preached 
in that city. Pilmoor visited from house to house, which 
service he remarks is " one of the most important duties of a 
Christian minister." He still showed his interest in young 
men. As he was going to St. Paul's in the evening of Decem- 
ber 22, 1773, "I observed," he says, " three young men stand- 
in the street as if they were strangers. I went up to them 
and told them we were going to church, and begged they 
would go with us, which they readily consented to do, and 
afterward I took them with me to the prayer-meeting." Two 
days after this Pilmoor received a letter from Boardman, in- 
forming him that a ship was soon to sail for Bristol, that he 
had taken passage, and wished a final word from Pilmoor 
about accompanying him home. " This," says Pilmoor, " put 

* Methodism in West Jersey, by the Rev. G. A. Raybold, p. 197. New York, 
1849. 



446 THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT IN AMEEICA 

me to the trial, for at that time I had a matter of great im- 
portance under consideration, which afforded me a most 
pleasing prospect, both as to the conveniences of life and 
the advancement of the Bedeemer's Kingdom, but after some 
deliberation I resolved to sacrifice my own ease, comfort, and 
inclination, and return with my fellow traveller to Europe. 
Friendship had so united our hearts that I could not bear the 
thought of letting him go alone, and therefore left all my 
concerns unsettled that I might accompany him to our native 
land." 

The last Sunday of December, 1773, Pilmoor declares "was 
a day never to be forgotten. My heart was so affected by the 
thought of leaving a people who are dear to me as life itself, 
that I was almost overwhelmed with sorrow. I should cer- 
tainly have yielded to the entreaties of my friends to continue 
in America, only I was determined not to desert Mr. Board- 
man, though it should cost me my life. God gave me such 
comfort in him that in the evening I preached my farewell 
sermon to a vast multitude of weeping citizens with much 
more firmness than I expected. After preaching we kept a 
love-feast, and the God of love was eminently present and 
filled our hearts with divine consolation." Of this occasion, 
Eankin, in his Journal, says : " Brother Pilmoor preached 
his farewell sermon in the evening, and we concluded the day 
with a general love-feast. The presence of the Holy One of 
Israel was in the midst, and many rejoiced in hope of the 
Glory of God. Next day he set off for New York, whence 
Brother Boardman and he are to sail for England. Yet a 
little while and we shall meet to part no more." 

On Monday, December 27, many persons called to take leave 
of Pilmoor at Mr. "Wallace's, " a family for whom," he says, 
" I feel much more affection than can be expressed." About 
ten o'clock he started for New York. He stopped at Burling- 
ton, New Jersey, and preached in the court-house the same 
evening " with particular freedom and power, and took leave 
of the dear people in the fulness of that love which unites 
all believers in one." The next day he crossed to Bristol, 
Pa., but " the snow was so very deep no wheel carriage 



BOARDMAN AND PILMOOE SAIL FOR ENGLAND 447 

could pass." Distressed lest he should fail to reach New 
York in time to sail with Boardman, he, on the 29th, " set off 
with a Mr. Bessanet in a sleigh for Trenton." He arrived 
there late, but several people, hearing that he was in town, 
" came," he said, " to spend the evening with me, whom I 
endeavored to build up and establish in the faith. We parted, 
fully resolved to be followers of God all the days of our 
lives." The next day he reached New Brunswick, and the 
day following he came to New York. There on the ensuing 
day — Sunday, January 2, 1774 — " many people nocked to 
the chapel, to whom," says Pilmoor, " I preached my farewell 
sermon with feelings too big for expression, and commended 
them to the protection of Israel's Shepherd." At this point 
Pilmoor's manuscript is mutilated. I gather from the torn 
document, however, that he and Boardman that day sailed in 
" Captain Clark's ship." In this connection also are the 
words "hospitable citizens," "select friends." Thus ended 
the extraordinary labors, extending over more than four 
years and two months in America of two eminent Methodist 
preachers, the first that Mr. Wesley sent hither to cultivate 
this great western vineyard. 

Pilmoor did not re-enter the regular itinerancy immedi- 
ately after his return to England, yet he was not idle. He 
wrote to Mrs. Thorn, in Philadelphia, from Kingwood, under 
date of April 9, 1775, a letter which still exists in the original 
manuscript. In it he said : " Though I do not think it ex- 
pedient to stand in the same degree of connection with the 
Methodists as I have done, I still labor in their part of the 
vineyard. I frequently preach five times a week and am 
glad of an opportunity to do something for my Master. 
How my future days may be employed I cannot tell, but I 
am determined they shall be laid out for Christ in one way 
or another. I am at present fully resolved to go forward 
after Jesus Christ, and expect to meet you by and by either 
in this world or the world above us." 

Pilmoor's name appeared the following year — 1776 — in 
the appointments in the English Minutes for the first time 
after his return, and he was stationed in London. In 1777 



448 THE WESLEY AN MOVEMENT IN AMERICA 

and 1778 his station was Norwich. In 1779 he was in Edin- 
burgh ; in 1780 and 1781 at Dublin; 1782 at Nottingham ; in 
1783 at Edinburgh again ; in 1784, York. This is the last time 
his name appears in the Wesleyan Minutes. Myles, in his 
" History of Methodism," in speaking of Wesley's " Deed of 
Declaration," by which, in 1784, he gave a legal status to his 
Conference, says : " Joseph Pilmoor with a few other travel- 
ling preachers were greatly offended that their names were 
not inserted in the deed." Dr., afterward Bishop, Emory of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, in a foot-note he inserted 
in Watson's life of Wesley in 1831, said this omission of his 
name " in all probability had a principal influence in his [Pil- 
moor's] coming to America again, and taking orders in the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. We believe, however, that he 
always continued friendly with our body, and lived and died 
an evangelical and highly respected minister." Emory was 
a pastor in Philadelphia while Pilmoor was rector of St. 
Paul's Church in that city, and therefore may be considered 
an authority on this subject. While Pilmoor labored in this 
country as a Methodist preacher, Methodism was known as 
a religious movement in the Church of England. He re- 
ceived ordination at the hands of Bishop Seabury of Con- 
necticut, in the latter part of the year 1784. 

Boardman, after his return to England, quickly found his 
place again in the Wesleyan ranks. In 1774 and 1775 he 
was stationed at Londonderry ; in 1776 and 1777 at Cork ; 
in 1778 his name does not appear in the appointments in 
the English Minutes ; in 1779 his field was Limerick ; in 
1780 he was stationed in London with Thomas Coke, John 
Wesley, Charles Wesley, and Joseph Bradford ; in 1781 his 
station was Limerick, and in 1782 Cork. This was his last 
field. Eleven days after he entered it he went to his reward. 
On Friday morning he was at the Intercession, " and was ob- 
served to pray," says Atmore, " with an uncommon degree of 
power." About nine o'clock in the evening of that day, 
October 4, 1784, "he expired in the arms of two of his 
brethren and in the presence of many of his friends." 

Great and greatly fruitful were the services rendered by 



DEATH OF EMBUKY 



449 



those saintly men, Boardraan and Pilmoor, to the New Wes- 
leyan movement in America. There has been much igno- 
rance respecting them in the connection they did so much to 
establish. They have been somewhat misunderstood, and 
numerous errors have been promulgated respecting the ris- 
ing cause during the period they were promoting it by their 
diligent, arduous, and successful labors. But for their pres- 
ence here from the fall of 1769 until the beginning of 1774 
the history of Methodism in this country might have been 
different from what it is. Well-poised men were they, dis- 
creet, cultured, holy, eloquent, lovers of mankind and aflame 
with zeal for Christ. Their work was wrought in love and 
its effects are immortal. It is a felicity of my life that I 
have been permitted to delineate their characters, to describe 
their work, and to chronicle the events of Methodism in 
the period of, and in connection with, their powerful and 
apostolic ministry. 

A final word respecting Embury and my task is done. 
When the first Conference met in Philadelphia, the man who 
by his preaching originated Methodism in the New World 
was still here, though not at the Conference. About one 
month after its close he suddenly ascended to his everlast- 
ing rest. In Mr. Embury's private book of memoranda, 
Samuel Embury wrote the following sentence : "My father, 
Philip Embury, died in August, 1773, aged forty-five years." 
Dr. Stevens gives 1775 as the year in which Embury died, 
though he says the year is doubtful. A manuscript docu- 
ment in possession of the Troy Conference Historical Society 
shows that Embury was not alive in the summer of 1775. 
It proves that a conveyance of land by David Embury, Ex- 
ecutor, and Margaret Embury, Executrix, of Philip Embury, 
was made July 1, 1775, to Francis Nicholson. This suffi- 
ciently corroborates the assertion of Samuel Embury respect- 
ing the date of his father's death. Embury's memory must 
always be associated with the memory of those who have 
turned many to righteousness and who shine as the stars for 
ever and ever. 



INDEX 



Asbury' s assertion on Pipe Creek, 1. 
two words about the Pipe Creek 

origin, 7. 
inaccuracies, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15. 
omission in his Journal, 8. 
historical writings indefinite, 9, 10. 
assertion unproved, 15. 
parents, 281. 

first sermon in America, 283. 
Asbury contradicted by Jesse Lee, 
16. 

does not dispute Lee's date of ori- 
gin, 24. 
arrival of, 280. 

criticises methods, 285, 286, 287. 
disposed to rule, 288. 
effect of his agitation, 316, 317, 
318. 

at first Conference, 434. 

Ashgrove, society formed in, by 
Embury, 55, 272. 

Ashton, Mr., came hither with Rob- 
ert Williams, 104, 105, 106, 227. 

America, state of, in 1769, 135, 136, 
137. 

its religious condition in 1769, 138, 

139,140. 
colleges in, 136. 

Wesley thinks of visiting, 143, 
144, 201. 

Annapolis, Pilmoor arrives at, 342. 

preaches at, 343. 
Abbott, the Rev. Benjamin, conver- 
sion, 389. 

relates it, 389. 

powerful preacher, 389, 390. 
Abbott's death, 390. 
Adventures, 393, 394, 395. 
30 



Boardman, Richard, offers to go 
to America, 111. 
appointed, 112. 

his arrival in America, 9, 10, 
130. 

his early history, 132, 133. 

worth recognized by Wesley, 133. 

he and Pilmoor walk into Phila- 
delphia, 130-34. 

opens ministry there, 141, 142. 

his cane, 127, 128. 

makes a tour, 139, 140. 

goes to New York, 142. 

letter to Wesley, 142. 

mentioned, 144, 165. 

as a preacher, 189. 

meets Asbury, 285. 

starts for Boston, 321. 

forms society in Boston, 321. 

his long tour, 401, 402. 

meets Pilmoor in Maryland, 401. 

sails to England, 447. 

subsequent history, 448. 
Brown, Rev. Dr. George, 37. 
Barracks, military, 78, 79. 

vicious character of neighborhood, 
79. 

Brown family at Pipe Creek, 37. 

band meeting, the, 210. 
Boehm, Henry, his 100th birthday, 
43. 

quoted, 43, 44. 
Bourne, George, 28. 

his History of American Method- 
ism, 44, 45. 
Bell, Thomas, 97, 98. 

quoted, 45. 
Benson, Rev. Joseph, 45. 



452 



INDEX 



Bangs, the Rev. Dr., 45. 
his account of Mrs. Heck's appeal 

to Embury, 49, 50, 51. 
his articles in Methodist Magazine, 

60. 

his life of Garrettson, 60. 

errs as to the arrival of Hecks, 51. 

his several accounts of the origin 

of Methodism in America, 60. 
in opposition to himself, 62, 63, 64, 

65. 

British troops, musicians of, 80. 
Bond, the Rev. Dr. Thomas E., 

his parents converted through 

Strawbridge, 101. 
Bunting, the Rev. Jabez, conversion 

of his mother, 127. 
becomes a Wesley an preacher, 

127. 

his usefulness, 127. 
a relic of, 128. 
Burlington, N. J., Pilmoor preached 
at, 206, 240. 
Asbury at, 285. 
Pilmoor at, 307, 308, 309, 386. 
Bordentown, N. J., Pilmoor 

preached at, 206, 240, 272. 
Bohemia, 308. 

Baltimore, Pilmoor at, 333, 336, 341. 

forms first society in, 337, 338. 

Pilmoor leaves, 342. 

Asbury at, 387. 

Pilmoor returns to, 400. 
Brickell, Captain, 348, 349. 

Caldwell, the Rev. James, of 
Elizabeth, N. J., 314, 315, 443. 

Crook, the Rev. William, 27, 28, 29. 

Colbert, the Rev. William, 34, 35, 
36, 37, 42. 

Cooper, the Rev. Ezekiel, quoted, 
43. 

mentioned, 77, 84. 
Coate, the Rev. Samuel, 45. 
Cummings, the Rev. Dr. A. W. , his 

account of the Heck family, 55, 

56, 57. 



Children, 167, 168. 
Classes, the, 176, 247, 259. 
Cow Neck, 273. 
Chestnut Hill, 246, 276. 
Carolina, North, Pilmoor in, 351. 
Charleston, S. C, Pilmoor at, 368, 

391, 392. 
Case, the Rev. William, 76. 
Clark, the Rev. Dr. Lucien, quoted, 

97. 

Dr. Adam, 208. 
Coke, the Rev. Dr., quoted, 91, 96. 
his and Moore's Life of Wesley, 
108. 

mentioned, 208, 236. 
Chapel in Maryland, first Methodist, 

its exact site unknown, 90. 
new and lately built, 91, 92. 
Pilmoor and Williams preached 

there, 95. 
Asbury there, 93. 
description of, 94 
Conference, English, 109, 112, 113, 

115, 116, 117, 118. 
first American, 415. 
talk in, about cities, 416, 417. 
action on book publishing, 424, 

425. 

action concerning discipline, 426. 

the sacraments, 427, 428, 429. 

appointments of preachers at, 429. 

Pilmoor writes to, 192, 193. 
Conyers, the Rev. Dr., 131, 132. 
Church of England, 138, 139. 

Methodist, bought in Philadel- 
phia, 155. 
Churches of New England, 140. 
Country, Pilmoor preaches in, 173, 
257, 273, 274, 275, 276. 

Discipline of 1787, historical sketch 
in, 9. 

of 1791-92, expanded sketch in, 
11, 12, 13. 
Drummersnave, 26 
Dulmage, Mrs., 45. 
Dean, Hannah, 45, 49, 175. 



INDEX 



453 



Dawson, Henry B., 79. 
Dallam, Richard, 91, 92, 325, 326. 
Josias, brought Williams to Spe- 
sutia Church, Maryland, 200, 
103, 199, 334, 338, 339, 340. 
Dr. William M., 102, 199, 401. 
Duche, the Rev. Jacob, 253. 
offers first prayer in Congress, 254. 
turns Royalist, 254. 
Delaware, Methodism in, 148, 270, 
271. 

Deer Creek, 328, 386, 402. 
Davis, Gressett, 377. 
brought Williams to Petersburg, 
378. 

Evans, John, and Evans document, 
3, 4, 6, 7. 
date of his death, 44. 
mentioned, 94. 
David, 3, 4. 
Samuel, 3. 
East Chester, 273, 289. 
Embury, Philip, when he came to 

America, 5, 39, 224, 225. 
Embury, Philip, 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 
16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 29, 34, 35, 36, 
37, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 
50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 77, 
78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 271, 338. 
his emigration, its date, 5, 39, 224, 
225. 

his history, 222, 223, 224, 225. 

why he emigrated, 39, 40, 41, 47. 

arrives here, 48. 

a school-master, 224. 

moved by Barbara Heck to preach, 

49, 50, 51, 52, 53. 
preached in his house, 53, 78. 
at barracks, 78. 
precedence, 46. 
preached at poor-house, 80. 
preached in rigging house, 82. 
removes, 222. 

his conversion and marriage, 223 
advertises as a school-master, 224. 
his brothers, 225. 



Embury, Philip, graves of his chil- 
dren, 227. 
his death, 449. 

Emigrants, German, Irish, company 
of, in New York, 39, 40, 41. 

Embury, Samuel, 56, 108, 226. 

Emory, the Rev. Dr. Robert, 90, 91, 
93, 340. 

wrote in part a biography of 
Bishop Asbury, 94. 
Evans, Edward, 145, 146, 150, 230, 
256. 

his funeral sermon, 276, 277. 
his character, 277. 
Exchange, Boardman and Pilmoor's 
first, 178. 
second, 205, 206. 
third, 240. 

Fort, William, in error respecting 
Embury and Strawbridge, 5, 30, 
31. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 134, 136. 

on Whitefield's ministry, 124. 
Friendship Church, 389. 

Garrettson, the Rev. Free- 
born, 42, 150, 151. 
Gatch, Rev. Philip, converted, 230. 

goes to New Jersey, 443. 
Germantown, Pa., 296, 297, 298. 
Griffith, the Rev. Walter, 188. 
Greenwich, N. J., church at, 277, 
278, 324. 

Asbury at, 283. 

origin of church at, 324. 
Gloucester Court House, N. J., 2~8. 

229, 231, 263, 275. 
Gier, Philip, 223. 
Gunpowder Neck, 328. 
Gunpowder, Forks of, 328, 331, 340. 

Hamilton, Rev. William, on 

priority, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6. 
mentioned, 90, 94, 236. 
his errors concerning King and 

of Pilmoor, 4, 5, 6, 333, 336. 



454 



INDEX. 



Heck, Paul and Barbara, 47. 
their removal from New York, 54. 
remove to Montreal, 55. 
Barbara, moved Embury to 

preach, 49, 50. 
breaks up a card-party, 50, 51, 52, 

53. 

mentioned, 55, 56, 57, 58, 76, 78. 
her appeal to Embury, 52, 53. 
her death and character, 73 and 

76, inclusive. 
Paul, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57. 
enlists in the British army, 55. 
his death, 57. 
his will, 71. 

the Rev. Samuel, 52, 54, 55, 56, 

57. 
John, 55. 
George, 52. 

his account of the Card-Embury 
affair, 52, 53. 

and Hick debate, 59 and 73, inclu- 
sive. 

Henry, Patrick, 136. 
Hick, Paul, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 
66, 71. 

mother of, little known of her, 61, 
63. 

Hawley, the Rev. Dr. Bostwick, 55. 
Hood, John, 97, 98, 99, 100. 
Harlem, N. Y., 191, 200, 272. 
Hart, the Rev. Oliver, 208, 212, 213, 

214, 369. 
Hampton, Va., 348, 349. 
Horse-racing, 264. 

Intercession, the, held by Pil- 
moor, 166. 

John Street, New York, purchase 
of site, 84. 
erection of chapel, 85, 86, 87, 88, 
89. 

dedicated, 89. 
its chief men, 82, 86, 87. 
members communed at Episcopal 
Church, 82. 



John Street, New York, first Meth- 
odist Church in America, 92, 96. 

a right deed secured, 178, 179, 
180, 181, 182. 

Church demolished, 81. 

foundation of second church in, 
81. 

dedicatory sermon, 50, 51. 
Rankin in, 421. 

Pilmoor's account of things in, 
421. 

Jarratt, the Rev. Devereux, 138, 
139. 

opinion of Asbury, 288. 

of Williams, 327. 

account of, 375, 376, 377. 

instructed in Methodism by Will- 
iams, 379. 

with the Methodists, 380, 381, 382, 
383. 

Jamaica, Captain Webb's home, 83. 
Pilmoor visits Webb there, 185, 
272, 274. 
Jessup, the Rev. William, 210. 
Jersey City, 256. 

Kingcess, Pilmoor preaches at, 171. 
King, John, arrival in America, 232. 

calls on Pilmoor, 232. 

preaches in Potter's Field, 233. 

preaches trial sermon in Philadel- 
phia, 235. 

his history, 235, 236, 255. 

his death, 236, 237. 

Lee, Jesse, his conversion, 383. 
account in his Journal of the origin 

of Methodism in New York, 16. 
opposes Asbury's dates, 16, 20, 

21, 22, 23. 
a student of Methodist history, 17. 
his history of the Methodists, 17, 

18, 19, 20, 21. 

his accuracy as a historian, 18, 

19, 22, 43. 

Laird, Michael, quoted, 26. 
mentioned, 27, 29, 30. 



INDEX. 



455 



Lupton, William, 41, 86, 87, 88, 414. 
" Log Meeting House " in Maryland, 
43, 44. 

description of, 94. 

when built, 94. 

did not precede John Street, 96. 

mentioned, 92. 
Lawrence, John, 52, 56. 
Little wood, Billy, converted, 80. 

his character, 80. » 
Lednum, the Rev. John, 90, 154. 
Love-feast described, 174. 

first in Philadelphia, 175. 

in New York, 175, 194, 259. 
Lancaster, Pa., 320. 
Lebanon, Pa., 319. 



Mamaroneck, 289. 

Maryland, Webb, and Strawbridge, 

100, 101. 
Strawbridge's usefulness in, 101. 
first converts in, 100. 
the work in, 150, 151. 
first Methodist sermon in Harford 

County, 199. 
Spesutia Church, 200, 266. 
Pilmoor enters, 325. 
Williams in, 325, 326. 
noisy meetings in, 329, 330. 
King and Williams in, 331, 338, 

385. 

Pilmoor returns to, 401, 402. 
McTyeire, Bishop, on origin of 

Methodism, 2, 90. 
Minutes not printed until 1785, 428. 

first printed in a volume, 7. 
Maynard, Henry, age at his baptism, 

30, 31, 32. 
Maynard, Henry, 44. 
Morrell, the Rev. Thomas, 46. 
Merrill, Bishop, 55, 56, 74. 
McKendree, Bishop, 96. 
Methodism, its origin in America, 

1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 16, 17, 20, 

21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 39, 41,42. 
a new era in, 133. 



Methodism, Pilmoor's important 
statement concerning, 159, 160. 
not a church, 161, 162, 163. 
its growth since 1766, 57, 222. 
first controversy in, 415. 
Methacton, 229. 

chapel dedicated, 230, 231. 
Moore, the Rev. M. H., 235, 236, 
237. 

McRoberts, the Rev. A., 248, 337. 

New York, Boardman and Pil- 
moor, together in, 182. 
first Love-feast in, 194. 
as Boardman found it, 182, 183. 
churches in, 183. 
slavery in, 184. 
Pilmoor in, 185. 

Boardman, Pilmoor, Webb, and 
Williams receive the sacrament 
in, 312. 

Whitefield and Pilmoor meet in, 
201. 

band meeting in, 210. 

people of, 303. 
Newtown, Long Island, 202, 272, 

273, 274, 302. 
New Rochelle, 272, 273, 289. 
Norfolk, arrival at, of Pilmoor, 344. 

theatre in, 345. 

excitement in, 346, 352. 

first society in, 356, 357. 

Pilmoor's work and success in, 
362. 

Pilmoor's return to, 396. 
New Berne, N. C, 312. 

Owen, Richard, the first native 
preacher, 101, 145, 387, 388. 

Princeton, N. J., 205, 206. 

Boardman preaches at, 240. 
Problem, first, in this history, 1. 
Pedicord, the Rev. Caleb B., 99. 
Pilmoor, Joseph, 9. 

quoted, 38. 

arrival in America, 10, 130. 



456 



INDEX. 



Pilmoor, Joseph, labors in Philadel- 
phia, 10. 

on origin of Methodism in Amer- 
ica, 39. 

his Journal, 90. 

goes to new chapel in Maryland, 
91, 92. 

exercised about going to America, 
110. 

his covenant, 110, 111. 
offers himself for America, 111. 
appointed with Boardman, 112. 
his early history, 131, 132. 
in Wales, 132. 

begins his ministry in America, 
145. 

preaches at a race-course, 147. 
writes to Wesley, 147, 148. 
his scholarship, 186, 187. 
the man and the preacher, 187,188. 
secures title to St. George's, 237. 
offered ordination and salary, 239. 
hard winter journey, 250, 251, 300, 
301. 

talks with papists, 256, 263, 297. 
serial sermons, 258. 
Quakers, 265. 

on frequent exchanges, 297. 
at an execution, 305. 
visits jails, 303, 304, 355. 
goes South, 318, 362. 
at orphan house, 373. 
watery adventures, 393, 394, 395. 
robbed at Alexandria, 399, 400. 
reviews his Southern itinerancy, 
403. 

sails for England, 447. 
subsequent history of, 447, 448. 
Parks, Peter, mentioned and quoted, 

77, 79, 82. 
Peck, Bishop, 128. 
Philadelphia, Methodism founded 
there, 98, 141. 
first society, 99. 
first class-leader, 99. 
results of Pilmoor's first term in, 
176, 177. 



Philadelphia, the city in 1769, 134. 
arrival there of Boardman and 

Pilmoor, 134, 141. 
Pilmoor's first Sunday in, 147. 
Webb preaches in, 148, 149. 
Pilmoor's early success in, 152, 

153, 154. 
a church purchased in, 155. 
first Sunday in it, 157. 
. Whitefield in St. George's, 204. 
his work in Philadelphia, 204, 205. 
deadness in, 252. 
first Conference in, 415. 
Boardman's sermon Conference 

eve in, 415, 146. 
Pipe Creek, Asbury's assertion of, 1. 
Asbury's two words, 7. 
mentioned, 90. 
Pennypack, Pa., 178, 228, 230, 240, 

271, 272. 

Paulus Hook, now Jersey City, 

241, 256. 
Poor, the, 246. 

Portsmouth, Va., 345, 346, 349, 350, 
352. 

first society in, 356. 
Presbury, Joseph, quarterly meet- 
ing at his house, 387. 
Pemberton, N. J., 308, 441, 442-, 445. 

Question of origin in debate, 2. 

Rankin, the Rev. Thomas, ap- 
pointed to America, 404. 

his early history, 404, 405. 

his first visit to America, 408. 

first labors here, 411, 412. 
Roberts, Dr., and the Maynard tra- 
dition, 24, 25. 

and Michael Laird, 24, 25. 
Revolution, the, portents of, 137. 
Revival in Philadelphia, 170. 

in New York, 243, 244, 246, 247, 
248, 249. 

in Virginia, 248. 

in Maryland, 388. 
Rush, Dr., 134. 



INDEX 



457 



Strawbridge, Robert, 1, 2, 3, 
5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 
22. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 
31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. 37, 38, 42, 
43, 44, 45, 46, 90, 94, 96, 97, 
149. 

preaches in Philadelphia, 171. 
his death, 436. 

Mrs. Robert, 3, 18, 35, 36, 37, 42. 
Shadford, the Rev. George, ap- 
pointed to America, 404. 

sketch of, 432. 433, 434. 

his early history, 27-29. 

his first exhortation in America, 
410. 

in Philadelphia, 440, 442. 

Shillington, John, 27-29. 

Sargeant, the Rev. Dr. Thomas F. , 
97, 98, 99. 

Smith, the Rev. Henry, 96, 200. 

Sparks, Captain, 128, 141. 

Storm at sea, 129, 130. 

Ship Mary and Elizabeth, 108, 128, 
130, 131. 

Stringer, the Rev. Mr., 146. 

Sam's Creek, 90, 92, 94. 

Saxe, the Rev. G. G., quoted, 227. 

Staten Island, 285, 301, 413. 

Snethen, the Rev. Nicholas, sermon 
of, on Asbury, 290, 295, inclu- 
sive. 

Savannah, Ga., Pilmoorat, 370, 391. 
Shirley, the Rev. Walter, circular 
letter of, 370, 371, 314. 

Traditions, Maryland errors of, 5. 
Tradition, uncertainty of, 33. 
Thrift, the Rev. Manton, 43. 
Taylor, Thomas, his letter to Wes- 
ley, 78, 82, 83, 85. 

writes to Wesley, 108. 
Theological opinions of Boardman 

and Pilmoor, 164, 165, 166. 
Thunder-storms, 197. 
Thorn, Mrs. Mary, a Baptist, 208. 

unites with the Methodists, 208. 

persecuted. 209, 210, 211, 212. 



I Thorn, Mrs. Mary, a class-leader ex- 
pelled by the Baptists, 211, 212, 
215. 

Boardman writes to, 215, 217, 218, 
219. 

first Methodist deaconess, 215, 
216. 

marries Captain Parker, 216. 
Pilmoor writes to, 218. 
went to England, 216. 
appointed class-leader by Wesley, 
217. 

meets adversity, 220. 
her labors, 220, 221. 
her name almost forgotten, 221. 
her reward, 221. 
Travels of the preachers, 231, 232. 

trying and perilous, 367, 368, 393. 
Trenton, N. J., 240, 272, 309, 386, 

315, 316, 410, 439. 
Toy, the Rev. Joseph, 272, 273. 

Whitehead, Dr., 117. 
Wesley, Mrs. Susannah, 207. 
Webb, Captain, 35, 38, 41, 80, 81, 82, 
83, 146, 243, 244, 257, 266, 313, 
444, 445. 
at British Conference, 385. 
his contribution to John Street, 
87. 

and Strawbridge, 100. 
mentioned, 101, 413. 
welcomes Boardman and Pilmoor, 
141. 

in Wilmington, 148, 150. 
his ministry described by Pilmoor, 

168, 169. 
lis services to Methodism, 168, 
239. 

Watters, the Rev. William, 42, 145. 
conversion, 268. 
enters the ministry, 357. 
at Norfolk, 358, 359, 360, 361. 
sketch of, 431. 
Wakeley, the Rev. Dr., erred as to 

Barbara Heck, 59. 
Withrow, the Rev. Dr., 58. 



458 



INDEX 



Wrangle, the Rev. Dr., 98. 
Wilmer, Lambert, 98, 99. 
Washington, George, 136. 
Williams, the Rev. Robert, 91, 95. 

his arrival in America, 102. 

first sermon in, 102. 

Dr. Dallam's account of it, 103. 

liis hostess and her absent hus- 
band converted, 103, 104. 

in New York, 104, 108. 

goes to Maryland, 104, 106, 148, 
149. 

licensed by Wesley, 105. 

a local or a travelling preacher, 

which ? 105, 255. 
errors about him, 260, 261. 
in Philadelphia, 310. 
in New York, 311. 
as a preacher, 326, 327. 
death of, 328. 

Lee and Pilmoor on, 105, 106. 
and Ash ton, 106. 

mentioned, 35, 191, 196, 197, 198, 
199, 200, 231, 328, 357, 358, 359, 
360, 361, 362, 397. 

at Petersburg, 377. 

success, 378. 

his preaching, 148, 196. 

preaches at Spesutia Church from 
a log, 199, 237. 

publishes books, 424, 425. 

at Mt. Holly, N. J., 441. 

preaches in Philadelphia, 442. 

in New Jersey. 
Wesley, the Rev. John, 26, 27, 78, 
88, 98, 104, 106, 108,111, 112, 
115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 121, 122, 
123, 124, 126, 130, 131, 133, 142. 

letter of, 143, 144, 146, 147, 160, 
161, 162, 163, 164, 138, 181, 186, 
192, 197, 201, 202, 217, 243, 370, 
371. 

his attitude toward Boardman and 
Pilmoor, 404, 405. 



Whitefield, the Rev. George, 119, 
120, 252, 308. 
his separation from Wesley, 121, 
122, 123. 

his wonderful eloquence, 123, 124, 

125, 126, 137, 191. 
in New York, 201, 202, 203. 
prepared the way for Methodism, 

124. 
death of, 238. 
Wesley, the Rev. Charles, 120. 
his interview with Boardman and 

Pilmoor, 125, 126, 163. 
writes a hymn in America, 372, 

373. 

White Marsh, Pa., 173, 229, 231, 255, 
299. 

West Chester, N. Y., 200, 272, 273, 
289. 

Pilmoor goes to, 201. 
Women " elect," 208. 
Wilmington, Del., 148, 270, 271, 289, 
308, 402. 
N. C, 366, 394, 395. 
Watters, Henry, a memento, 340. 
Watch meeting, the, in New York, 
244, 301. 
in Philadelphia, 284. 
in Norfolk, 397. 
Whitworth, the Rev. A., 388, 389, 

430, 431. 
Williamsburg, Va., 347, 352. 
Wright, the Rev. Richard, arrival 
of, 282. 
criticised by Asbur} r , 323. 
preaches at Philadelphia, 284. 
mentioned, 308, 385. 
in New York, 322, 323. 
Witherspoon, the Rev. Dr. John, 
242, 262. 



Young men in New York, 245, 
248. 



p^'-Wsf: ?^%^Mm : ^/ j -1§Sk 



,0 ^ 








7 # 




4? * 









► * » A ^ - ^ A , «n J °» .0 * * * ° * V ** A<^ Y * 



*°% : -1Kp* ^°\* fl 

^ ****** * sr * y \L r *'^ sr^'ZJ* ^ oi^nL* 





V 





V s^V j ^^^^ * Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proce 

Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2006 



PreservationTechnologii 



A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVAT 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 

^ S 5 ' ' r a, ^ 





v v 













■o 






..* s ,6- 



A 





4^ 






A 











The beginnings of the Wesleyan movement in Americ 

Atkinson, John, 1835-1897 

10105278 

The Library of Congress 

[102] beginningsofweslOOatki 

00176674878 
Nov 13, 2013 




be gi nni ngsof 



